Topic: American pill box intaglio lid

[Sue C]

Does anyone recognise this little pill/patch box ?  1 1/2 ins across sprung hinged lid with intaglio.
It is very dirty and when i first looked at it i thought maybe czech, then in small letters at the bottom of the box is MADE IN USA.
Maybe an American company for the metal, which is gilded base metal, and an imported intaglio, any ideas?

[Mosquito]

I bought one of these a while ago as a gift, the intaglio was by Hoffmann and marked with the butterfly logo. Don't know who made the metal though.

[Lustrousstone]

That intaglio looks very Hoffman. Have a look at Pamela's site. Snap! Just seen Stephen's post

[Sue C]

Thanks Steven and Christine, looked through Pamelas site, but i dont think this is hoffman, no little butterfly, i was also wondering how to clean it, i dont want to ruin the gilding  it is very mucky!!

[dirk.]

many restorers use cotton wool and their spittle for cleaning purposes - good pH, enzymes...
you can actually even get synthetic spittle in some restorer´s shops. the residues should be
removed with alcohol.
gilded bronze should not be touched without gloves because of the acid constituents in your
sweat or otherwise be wiped off with alcohol afterwards.

regards,
dirk

[Sue C]

Thank you Dirk, it's a lovely little thing and i would hate to damage it, i will make sure no one is around when i attempt this 
I was just wondering, was/is there any glass artists in America who do/did intaglio work? this is the first one i have seen, and surely if they were imported the would be lot's of them 

[Sue C]

Just noticed something else, when the box is closed, it is difficult to see the design of the intaglio, but when it is opened you can see the design clearly, but upside down??

[krsilber]

I don't know of any American company that made Hoffman-esque pressed pieces (apart from a few ashtrays).  They're quite common though, and when they're raised for ID on the ebay PGP board they're usually attributed to Hoffman or if a Hoffman pattern can't be found, "unknown Bohemian/Czech"

Did the Hoffman ones always have the butterfly?  And did they call them "intaglio"?  I've wondered that for a long time.

Spittle!  Fake spittle!  I never would have thought of that.  Gold itself is inert to most household chemicals except bleach, it's the rest of the item that you have to be careful of.

[Sue C]

All of the Hoffman intaglio's on pamela's site in the cataloques have a butterfly, that was the first place i looked
http://www.glas-musterbuch.de/

[Lustrousstone]

It is Hoffman, see here. Look at the stoppers of those bottles. Probably a special order