Rare 18kt Gold Sur-Plateau Musical Snuff Box

Description:

Rare 18kt Gold Sur-Plateau Musical Snuff Box, No. 521, probably by Piguet et Meylan, with 1 1/2-inch disc playing two airs, twenty-five teeth on one side and twenty on the other, stop/start and tune-change controls, in gold case with engine-turned panels, engraved borders and lid with champleve design of blue flowers on frosted ground, engraved C&B 18 N.Y. and eagle mark, 2 1/8 x 3 in., (repairs to lid).

Note: Isaac-Daniel Piguet was born in Le Chenit in the Valley of Joux in 1775. He settled in Geneva in 1811, where he formed a partnership with Philippe-Samuel Meylan (1772 - 1845). The company specialised in miniature musical movements and automata, often extremely thin, concealed in watches or snuff boxes of ingenious design by the maker Remond. This piece is unusual in playing two tunes, changed manually by a slide located at the back of the case. The stamp C&B may refer to Alfred Frederick Cross & Henry E. Beguelin of New York City, principally importers, who founded their business in 1860. However, as this would have been at least forty years after the manufacture of the movement and case, it is probably a retailer's or repairer's, rather than a maker's, mark.
Estimate $12,000-18,000

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