Antique French 18th Century Writer's Set, Box, Letter Opener, Sceau, Seal, Agate & Engraved Hunter
I just never pass one of these late 1700s boxed sets by, and this one is particularly wonderful - still in the original presentation box, 2 covered compartments with 18k gold knobs under which one would store sealing wax and quilt or pen nibs. The recesses in the silk velvet lined interior of the beautiful old box still hold agate handled letter opener with elaborately engraved decoration on both sides - don't miss the hunter and birds on one side; a wax seal which does not yet have an engraved monogram matrix, and the 3rd implement is the scraper blade which was then the 'eraser'. In that time, paper was hand made, scarce, and if one made a mistake, the blade was used to literally scrape some of the 100% cotton rag fibers from which the paper was created, in order to remove the word or letter. One did not crumple and toss a page - paper was an expensive commodity. There is one tool missing - it should also have a long handled pen. The agate being rather fragile, I'm sure the pen was l