This Edwardian style Sterling silver snuff and pill box is English and bears the official hallmark of the Assay Office of London. This Sterling silver snuff and pill box of distinctly elegant orbicular format weighs 50.3g and measures 45mm in diameter and 14mm high. The box cover depicts the 'Prince of Wales's feathers’, which is the heraldic badge of the Prince of Wales. It consists of three white feathers emerging from a gold coronet. A ribbon below the coronet bears the motto 'ICH DIEN' a contraction of the German phrase 'ich diene' meaning 'I serve'. This emblematic badge is rendered in artistic repoussé work with laborious devotion to details and the accurate veined structure of feathers. The reverse side of the box bears the official Assay mark of London comprising a 'lion passant', a lion's head and the date letter 'G' in Italic denoting 1981. The hallmark components are placed within rectangular cartouche, surmounted by the silversmith's initials 'CIV'. The date letter and the 'lion passant' are also stamped inside the box cover.

The 'Prince of Wales' feathers or heraldic badge, according to existing records, does not have any connection with the native Princes of Wales, but rather thought to have originated with Edward, the Black Prince, and the eldest son of Edward III of England. As legend would have us believe, the Black Prince obtained the arms from the blind John I, King of Bohemia, slain by the Black Prince in the Battle of Crécy in 1346. Upon termination of the battle, the prince visited the body of the deceased king whose bravery he had always admired, and took his helmet, which was lined with ostrich feathers. Those feathers and the dead king's motto ‘Ich Dien’ constituted the prince's new badge and came to be used by subsequent Princes of Wales. A painted carving on the main gate of Oriel College in Oxford, England, depicts the emblem of the Prince of Wales.

F535

Suggested Retail Price: $150.00 Your Price: $98.00 Wholesale Price: $75.00