Antique 19th Century Ornately Carved Coquilla or Tagua Nut - Hinged Snuff Box

Here on offer is an antique ornately carved Coquilla or Tagua Nut snuffbox with beautifully carved detail, dating to the 19th century.

The box is finely carved on all its surfaces. The top lid has scenes of archery, with a bow, quivers and arrows.

The bottom depicts various musical instruments, such as a harp, violin, trumpets and horns.
The ends show flower motifs.

The snuffbox is in excellent condition and the lid clicks very firmly in place.

There are tiny chips to the front edge of the lid and on the back edge near the brass hinge.
The hinge looks to have been glued in place at some point in its life, but it is pined and held in place very securely.


It measures 2.7” (6.8cm) by 1.2” (3cm) and weighs 24.5g.

Here is some information about the Tagua nut:

The Tagua has a lot of names, such as The Rain Forest Ivory or Vegetable Ivory. Other names are Corozo (also spelled Corrozzo), Binroji Nut (Japanese), Steinnuss (German), and Coquilla Nut.

The tagua nut is the fruit of a palm tree, Phytelephasmacrocarpa, which flourishes in tropical rain forests from Paraguay to Panama.

The "palm ivory" from the Amazon rainforest bear fruit whose pulpit inner (endosperm) becomes very hard when dry and texture very similar to ivory.
It is this which is called vegetable ivory or tagua. The tagua nut carves, turns and polishes easily like ivory.
The Tagua nut were worked on by skilled sailors or convicts who created such beautifully carved boxes as this one.


Please see my pictures for the details of the excellent condition.

Many thanks for Looking and I am happy to combine postage.

Code: 50281