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Auction: 26050 - Jewellery & Objets de Vertu
Lot: 57

H. LEWIS & CO., A GOLD, DIAMOND AND RUBY VESTA/MATCH CASE
CIRCA 1870-1881
Of rounded rectangular form, decorated with bark-texture ground and central heraldic fleur-de-lys motif set with a cushion-cut ruby and old-mine cut diamond, with suspension loop and striker base.
Tests as 21ct gold
Signed H. Lewis & Co.
Engraved to interior with retailer details, 172 New Bond St, London.
Size/dimensions: 3.80cm x 2.70cm
Gross weight: 15.10g

The piece shows surface wear and light scratches consistent with age. The hinges are slightly stiff but functional. All stones are present and securely set, and the item is offered in good condition.


Henry Lewis & Co. were among the most accomplished West End jewellers and luxury retailers of the late Victorian period, trading from prestigious premises at 172 New Bond Street. The presence of the New Bond Street address within the interior firmly anchors the object to the firm’s most commercially and artistically successful period, broadly prior to the dissolution of the Lewis partnership in 1881, when the business transitioned away from its earlier collaborative structure.



Fleur-de-lys imagery was often selected as a decorative element not only for its heraldic associations but also for its broader symbolic resonance across Europe. In late Victorian London, it could signify French royalist sympathies, fashionable Francophile taste, or be adopted as a semi-private emblem of identity by cosmopolitan patrons.



One possible, though unverified, interpretative layer links such objects to the circle of flamboyant Victorian society figures who carefully constructed aristocratic identities. Among these was the self-styled Marquis de Leuville, a notorious Victorian dandy and impostor who operated within elite London social circles and is recorded as once commissioning a medal from Henry Lewis & Co. which was inscribed on the reverse "British Seamanship and Captain H. C. Kane of H.M.S. Calliope from an Admirer - The Maquis de Leuville".



While there is no direct documentary evidence connecting this specific case to him, the combination of Bond Street retail origin, overt French heraldic motif, and conspicuous gem-set execution is entirely consistent with the visual language favoured by such personalities, for whom personal objects functioned as extensions of theatrical identity and social performance.

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Estimate
£1,500 to £2,000

Starting price
£1200