A casket, or a jewelry box is a receptacle for trinkets and jewels. It may take a very modest form, covered in leather and lined with satin, or it may reach the monumental proportions of the jewel cabinets which were made for Marie Antoinette, one of which is at Windsor, and another at Versailles, the work of Schwerdfeger as cabinet maker, Degault as miniature painter, and Thomire as chaser.

Caskets are often made in precious materials, such as gold, silver or ivory. In ancient East Asia, caskets often made in wood, china, or covered with silk. Some of these caskets could be collected as decorative boxes.

Jewelry Box, Jewel Casket, or Trinket Box

Jewelry boxes have long been treasured, for they have held precious items—sometimes valuable in themselves, sometimes valuable for their memories. Throughout history, jewelry boxes were constructed and designed by craftsmen, one box at a time, each a unique piece reflecting the style of the time and locale. With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, all this changed. As we know, the concept of mass production was avidly adopted in the United States during the late 19th early 20th centuries. And for the first time, metal objects like jewelry boxes, for example, could be cast in quantity and, therefore, were less costly to produce.

The Industrial Revolution also encouraged the development of the middle class in America which was now also able to purchase decorative items, not just the essentials. And international travel and trade brought their attention to new decorative styles all over the world. The Victorian Period, immensely popular in the United States about 1880-1900, had a great effect, and soon after, the Art Nouveau style emerged from France.

American ladies of the early 1900's aspired to the “high style” of the world's great cities like London and Paris. Mail order catalogs--Sears and Roebuck, Montgomery Ward, and Marshall Field--enabled the American family to peruse the products, jewelry boxes among them, and make purchases from their own homes. Of course, jewelry stores also carried a selection of jewelry boxes, “the latest” designs purchased from wholesalers and displayed in their windows. The sale of jewel boxes as souvenirs was another phenomenon. Increased travel to points of interest around the country, combined with a Victorian carry-over desire for trinkets, encouraged travelers to purchase mementos of their journey. Jewel boxes were always a popular selection.

Also called “jewel case,” casket and occasionally trinket box, they were classified as Art Metal Wares and usually made of cast metal, finished—or plated--in gold, silver, copper or ivory. A popular misconception today is that there may have been some iron in the metal. According to an October 1908 article in Jewelers' Circular—Weekly, the most common base metals for jewel boxes were actually spelter or antimonial lead. Almost all of the alloys used for jewel boxes were of metals with low melting points (or “soft” metal), thus explaining the weak or broken hinges often seen on jewel boxes today.