and enamelled hardstone and gold cagework snuff-box with an enamel miniature, probably German or Swiss, late 19th Century (?) , the cover centred with an oval enamel plaque painted with Cupid and a young lady reading a letter within a diamond and white enamel border
London Christie's. This box, which only carried a £ 3,000 to 5,000 estimate, was magnificent indeed but was awkwardly described as dating from the end of the 19th Century. Therefore this incredible bid seems quite hard to explain unless there was a mistake in the catalogue meaning that this box had in fact been produced at the end of the 18th Century. Apparently this might be the best possible explanation given the John Pierpont Morgan provenance. The latter collected miniatures, gold and enamelled boxes at the end of the 19th century and would certainly not have bought a modern piece then.
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