Very Rare Minature Late 16th Century Nuremberg Casket Eisenkassette Michael Mann

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Very Rare Minature Late 16th Century Nuremberg Casket Eisenkassette Michael Mann:
$2231.81

Fantastic and Very, Very, Very Rare Late 16th Early 17th Century Miniature Wrought Iron Nuremberg Casket.

With

3 sliding bolts or latches and contemporary key.

Probably German Nuremberg.

Circa 1580 to 1630.

The key is contemporary for the period and is likely to be the original but as with so many of these caskets the original keys are long lost with later replacments, so I am not going to swear that it is just in case you are wondering. But I can say that the key is at least 350 to 400years old.

This possibly unique miniature casket is not rare because of the type of casket it is because from time to time these early caskets do occasionally come up for sale. No; what makes this casket super rare is because of its tiny size and simple undecorated, functional design as well as it 3 sliding bolt lock.

About the only maker known about to make tiny caskets of this type and period was from the workshops of Michael Mann. Most caskets attributed to or made by him are normally highly decorated with fine engravings and fetch many thousands of pounds.

Whilst it is unlikey that this casket was made by him, it was probaby made by a lesser known workshop from Nuremberg or surrounding area during the period.

There are really 4 or 5 catergorys that these caskets com in the form of;

Thefirst in size order from the smallest upwards starts with the type made by Michael Mann as decribed above, around 7cm in length or smaller.

The next are the etched types decorated with hunting scenes, grotesque faces and stylised portraits of men and women as well as foliage etc, varying from anywhere between 9cm in length up to around 18cm for an average size, right up to around 25cm.

Thirdly, comes the smooth surfaced painted ones, sometimes plain black or decorated with fairly neigh-eve paintings of again hunting scenes, people or flowers and foliage etc. These normally are around 25cm plus up to round 40cm or even 50cm. Sometimes raised on tapered stands also painted to match.

Lastly comes the huge and very heavy iron chests, often nicknamed \'Armada Chests\' which are often around 50cm right up to the 100cm mark and sometimes even more. Of course there are always exceptions to these with many varying types across the range.

This casket is something very rarerly seen almost to the point of never and its design is a minature of the larger type in basic form and yet raised on ball feet that you would normally find on decorative caskets.

In untouched original condition this casket really is one for the connoisseur and this is likely to be your only opportunity to buy anything like this ever again. I have never touched it or cleaned it up simply out of respect to such a historical and unique piece of history and in this case conservation rather than restoration was more important to me and hopefully its future custodians.

Why am I selling it? Well, simply because I am looking to emigrate in a few months and much of my collection has to go to give me new oportunities, otherwise I would simply keep it as a treasured item.

Any queries please call 07731 564008

Please remember aswith all Antique and secondhand items, please be your own judge About age, condition and description before purchasing as I am not an expert in such things. Just a collector.

Condition:

Please see photos.

Dimensions;

Height excluding the back hinge approx 55mm

Width across lid approx 78mm

Depth approx across the lid excluding back hinge 47mm

Weight unpacked including key approx 277g

As with all Antique and secondhand items, please be your own judge before purchasing.

I am having a major clearout of several decades of collecting and I shall be selling all sorts of things over the next few months with no particular theme so keep an eye out for my bizarre and not so bizarre items for sale.

Any questions or any further photos, please just ask and please, please ask questions before the end of the sale. A buyer recently purchased an item and then moaned about it after the event because he hadn\'t read the description correctly.