Artist: Lizzie Siddal (1829-1862)

… All changes pass me like a dream,
I neither sing nor pray;
And thou art like the poisonous tree
That stole my life away.

- Elizabeth Siddal from “Love and Hate”

Many of us have succumbed to the powers of attraction.

Our bodies ruling over our heads. Our emotions soon to follow.

A spell is cast and no matter hard we fight to break it, we just can’t seem to get away.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti was one of those… a sorcerer of sorts, and not the good kind. Lizzie Siddal, an artist in her own right, fell under his spell. Today, she is known more as a model or a muse, for the drama with Rossetti and not her work.

Beatrix by DGR

At the age of twenty, Elizabeth Eleanor Siddall was working as a milliner. She was unusual in appearance than most of the girls her age. Tall and lean with a mass of glorious red hair, she had agate-colored eyes and alabaster skin. Her voice soft and scant. She caught the attention of many men. She was introduced to Dante Gabriel Rossetti and soon, at his demand, she became his exclusive model.

Lizzie showed promise as an artist, and Rossetti took her on as a student. He had her live with him. He dropped the remaining ‘L’ from her last name. And then he promised to marry her.

Self-Portrait 1853-54

By 1854, several of Lizzie’s paintings and illustrations appeared in the Pre-Raphaelite Exhibition. Lizzie was the only female artist. The following year, John Ruskin saw her work and purchased everything. Ruskin even gave her an allowance to continue her work.

Years passed and Rossetti ’s promises to marry her went unrealized. He began to entertain other artists’ models. Their relationship became tumultuous. Several times she tried to leave but was always worried Rossetti would replace her with a younger, prettier muse. Grief stricken, Lizzie would often fall ill taking laudanum for relief.

In May of 1860, Rossetti and Lizzie finally married. The following May, she gave birth to a stillborn daughter. By the end of the year, Lizzie was pregnant again. In February, she went out to dinner with Rossetti and a friend. She returned home and he went out again. At 11:30 he came home to a dark room. He called to her and received no reply. In bed he found her with an empty vile of laudanum next to the bed.

The grieving husband threw a manuscript of poems he had written into her casket. he began to drink. And take chloral.

Seven years went by and then Rossetti persuaded his friends to exhume Lizzie's body. He wanted to publish the poems he had thrown into her coffin. Late one night, they dug up her grave and pried open the coffin. The poems were retrieved and drenched in disinfectant. His friends told him, not to worry…. Lizzie looked remarkably well.

Georgiana, the wife of the painter Edward Burne-Jones, said of Rossetti: “no one could produce the peculiar charm of his voice with its sonorous roll and beautiful cadences.” No one really knows why or how another person can cast such a powerful spell onto another. No one really knows why people cannot break away from others. But you wonder if Lizzie was able to break from his spell and finally leave him not having to carry the label of a divorced or 'fallen' woman, how good her work could have become.

Designer: Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932)

Glass has been made in a variety of shapes and styles for more than 5,000 years -- the styles reflecting the trends of the time. When we look at the glass vase above, our thoughts probably drift to a similar vase we have seen today.

But place this vase in the context of its time. It was created during Victorian England when the reigning taste was all about clutter, bric-a-brac and passementeries.

Gertrude Jekyll designed this vase. I was unaware of it until a friend, Paul Shutler, from across the pond educated me. He has one. An unusual one.

A garden designer and writer, Jekyll designed her gardens very carefully, demonstrating a sensitive and sympathetic relationship between a house and its surroundings. She believed each plant should be studied for habit, foliage and color to achieve a practical, harmonious effect that was most appropriate for its area.

She demonstrated the same theory in this vase.

Gertrude Jekyll was asked by the London retailer James Green to design a series of flower vases. The result: “Munstead Range” after her own cottage Munstead Wood which was designed by the young architect Sir Edwin Lutyens.

The vases are the only objects designed by Jekyll. Neither an architect nor an industrial designer, she designed an object intended for the general public – so people could enjoy a bit of nature when they didn’t have the acreage. Jeckyll’s vision and theories were well ahead of her time.

The vase’s form is functional and the lines are essential. She wanted to create something appropriate for cut flowers and foliage. She didn’t want something unnecessary or overwhelming or overly designed. It was different from the usual Victorian vases painted with unsettling colors, or cut with heavy patterning. It wasn’t a clunky form, but perfectly fit for its purpose.


During her career, she carried out over 400 commissions for clients in the UK, Europe and even America. She ran a prosperous nursery garden business at her home well into her eighties. And she was a prolific writer publishing 13 books -- starting after her 55th birthday!

A picture of Gertrude Jekyll sketched by Lutyens c.1896 (from the Museum of Garden History)

Munstead Woods images from garvenvisit.com and the Astoft collection of buildings in England; Vase image and tear sheet courtesy of Paul A. Shutler)

Designer: Christopher Dresser (1834-1904)

"Maximum effect with minimum means" is a saying Christopher Dresser used to repeat to his students. A saying many of us during this recession can relate to. Unlike most of his contemporaries, Dresser believed in good, quality design for all.

Think of today's designers for Target: Martha Stewart, Michael Graves and Karim Rashid …
Christopher Dresser was the first to self-brand products offering quality at an affordable price.

"Fitness for purpose", Dresser also used to say, was the basis of good design. Bauhaus designers championed this principle which is also something we desperately are in need of today.

Dresser was enthusiastic about scientific progress and the machine-age which contrasted sharply with the pessimism of John Ruskin and William Morris. He believed existing scientific laws were destined to become outdated only to be replaced by newer, simpler laws. This belief led him to the theory that design should be simple.

In his lifetime, Dresser received quite a bit of recognition. Design firms carrying Dresser creations were cream of the crop. It is strange that this leading Victorian designer doesn't share the same acclaim as other designers such as Morris today.

Manufactured by Chubb & Co. for the Art Furnishers' Alliance, (1880-83);Ebonized & gilded mahogany --Victoria & Albert Museum

For whatever reason I've always skipped over the part about Christopher Dresser’s personal life. I made the erroneous assumption that he was not married. Surely someone so prolific couldn't possibly have time for a wife, or even a family. I was wrong. At the young age of 20 he married an "older" woman (points for him) named Thirza Perry, though she was only 24. Together they had thirteen -- 13 -- children.

I love his work. Something about every single piece I see time and time again sings. I wonder if 130 years from now, people will feel the same about Karim Rashid’s designs. Somehow I don’t think so. Take one moment and place Dresser’s theories and work within the context of his time. His designs and ideas stood apart from his contemporaries and were advanced for the time.

Born in Glasgow to non-conformist English parents, Dresser was a very talented child. His father was a tax collector moving his family frequently over the years. When Dresser was 13, he won a scholarship Government School of Design. This new art school was set up to improve the standard of British design by joining the disciplines of art and science.

During his attendance, Dresser met many of the most important design reformers of the day including his mentor: the utterly fantastic Owen Jones.

Dresser studied botany, specializing in the field. At the early age of 20, he began to lecture at the School of Design and wrote several articles for the Art Journal. He illustrated ten plates of plants to Owen Jones' Grammar of Ornament (1856) and received an honorary doctorate in botany in 1859. By 1860, working as a professor for the University of London, his application for Chair of Botany at was rejected. He was determined to forge a career as a designer and set up shop that same year. His fascination with the inherent symmetry and regularity of nature merged with the natural laws in his designs.

Blue Floral Urn (1875); Cloisonné frieze inspired by Iznik (Turkish) designs available at Jason Jacques Inc.. Image from ArtNet.

In the 1860s and 1870s, he worked as a freelance designer for Mintons Ltd. and J. Wedgwood and Sons. Many designs were inspired by ‘oriental’ cloisonné wares.

An unconventional thinker, Dresser broke new ground in design. A trip to Japan in 1876 strengthened his preference for form over ornament. He also procured items for Tiffany & Co. in New York.

Electroplate teapot (1878-1879) made by James Dixon and Sons. Collection of The British Museum.

He designed forms intended for mass production and ensured high-quality. Most of his metal work he designed for James Dixson and Sons Elkington & Co.

He designed textiles, wallpaper, silver hollowware, brassware, glass, pottery and furniture.

In 1880, he established The Art Furnishers' Alliance, which sold furniture, metalwork, ceramics, glass, fabrics and other items of his design -- some executed under his supervision. Unfortunately, by 1883, the firm went bankrupt and everything liquidated. Dresser had to move to the suburbs.

Tongue Vase, Christopher Dresser, c.1893. From “Design in the age of Darwin: From William Morris to Frank Lloyd Wright" exhibition.

There was no one to continue his work after his death. In part, perhaps, because no one was as brilliant. The other part, perhaps, because he was alone in his mission to address design for all.

Dresser's designs reissued and currently available at Alessi.

To see more good stuff and read about his market click HERE.

More "Falling" Women

William Holman Hunt shocked his female viewers when he painted “The Awakening Conscience” in 1853. This melodrama of sin and recognition was meant to teach women a vital lesson about her role in society. Surely this gave cause for some women to be upset?

A new ideal of womanhood was developing in the nineteenth-century. Spurred on by the anxiety created by the Industrial Revolution, the expanding mercantile-industrial middle class needed to establish a new identity and self-justification. The world of commerce was becoming increasingly the play ground of corporations rather than individual entrepreneurs. (Does this sound familiar today?)

The Industrial Revolution promised material and cultural success. And it was delivered with the abuse of laborers, absence of personal tax and the marginalization of women. With the increase of money came vice and debauchery -- something the revolutionaries fought so hard against to win their independence from Britain -- which began to creep in and contaminate the new world. “Luxury,” one American writer urged Thomas Jefferson in 1782 “consisted of a dull, animal enjoyment which left minds stupefied and bodies enervated by wallowing forever in one continual puddle of voluptuousness.”

Women were advised to cover up their arms and legs. And after age 16, the wrists and ankles. This image dates from 1868. (I have no idea where I got this image, have had it for years, my apologies for lack of credit.)

Something had to change. Reform was needed. Instead of reorganizing and recognizing the greed of emerging capitalistic society, reform was controlled in the home. With economic changes came a new family dynamic. Men left the home to work while women stayed behind to care for the house and children. This is nothing new, this structure has worked in the past and it works for many today. However, back then a heavy burden was placed upon women to be moral guiders. This “new ideal of womanhood” created very particular attitudes about work and family. It was clearly defined and drilled into girls at a very young age. It essentially had four characteristics that any good and proper young woman should cultivate: piety, purity, domesticity, and submissiveness.

Religion or piety was considered the core of woman’s virtue. It was to be the source of her strength. Young men looking for a wife were cautioned to first look for piety; if that was there, everything else would follow. Religion was considered the divine right of women. It was a gift of god. Her piousness gave her the strength to control the naughty and vulgar world of men. Women were warned not to let their literary or intellectual pursuits take them away from religion. If so, she could risk being barren.

From Godey's Lady's Book March 1850, Philadelphia. Quiet moment between friends before THE wedding night.

Purity was the essential piety to a young woman. Without it she was considered unnatural, unfeminine or worse no woman at all. She was considered a ‘fallen woman’. The marriage night was to be the single greatest event of a woman’s life. It was then when she “bestowed her greatest ‘treasure’ upon her husband”.


Mrs. John Farrar (Eliza was her name) wrote in a manual The Young Lady’s Friend lending advice how to avoid trouble: “Sit not with another in a place that is too narrow; read not out of the same book; let your eagerness to see anything induce you to place your head close to another person’s.” It was a huge success in America with reprints well into the 1890s.

Were women really buying into this?

“The Old, Old Story Was Told again at 3 O’Clock in the Morning” chromolithograph (although this version in b/w) unknown printer, c. 1870.

I was walking Billy one warm summer night. A cab came to a screeching halt and out poured three young girls from the car door, falling over one another into the street. They were also falling out of their dresses and shrieking in drunken obnoxious laughter. One girl couldn’t find her 4” high-heel shoe and another was uncertain if this was even the street where she lived. In the darkness, a sneer of disapproval came over my face followed by a cold shudder. I thought – wow - my friends and I certainly dressed differently at that age. And then a cold clammy sweat began to seep from my pores in horror knowing years ago I had untamed nights like that. I felt a little ill, but why? Would I have not blinked an eye if this was a taxi full of three young males? What if these were older men? Would that be any less appropriate? Was I judging these girls because they were girls? Haven’t we come a long way?

One girl could not get her key into the door and began doubting that she lived in the house. So she decided to take a nap in the front yard. The other two girls were laughing and dancing in the street. The cab driver, concerned, got out of his car and came up to me. He said: “Is this how young girls behave in your country?”

Smart or safe are not two words that came to my mind to describe this behavior. But I am certainly glad to be a woman living in this country. Although his comment did make me wonder: has conventional gendering behavior not changed that much? Today, how many husbands sit at home anxiously taping their foot as they await their drunken wives to teeter-totter home giggling at 3 O’clock in the morning? Women seem to just get annoyed when husbands come home from a late night out drinking -- they hog the bed, they smell and they miss the toilet. But men seem to fear when women behave this way. As if they will sully their reputation or run off you a much younger man... Double standard still prevails.

I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up: Rockingham Ware

For the women out there… Think about this: when was the last time you pulled out a household object such as a tea pot, water pitcher, baking dish, pie plate, or even a soap dish, and had to look at a pictorial image which reminded you to strive to be an “ideal” woman.

Today we have magazines pages to thumb through and commercial advertisements to watch on tv. Many of us pooh-pooh them as the messages are so trivial. We can close a magazine and turn off the tv. How many of us truly aspire to the media’s fabricated ‘idealized’ woman. Sure we buy the face creams, go to yoga to minimize the fatty texture on our bottoms, color the gray, and put on our spanx before a night out, but trying to look better doesn’t truly make us better women. We know this.

During Victorian America, women were bombarded with images of the ‘ideal’ woman. Problem was these images targeted core beliefs. Not superficial ones like today. They sent messages to women reminding them what a good woman was.

Pie Plate: Skinner, February 23, 2003

Rockingham pottery did just that. It was an inexpensive nineteenth-century ceramic widely used in America – an ordinary good. It performed a variety of tasks and played a variety of different roles in everyday life. But what is interesting is that much of Rockingham ware is pictorially embossed with an array of Victorian themes. The themes spoke of urbanization, nostalgia for country life and visually communicated hard messages. They depicted stories of men’s role in the world of hunting and woman’s role at home. How many men out there would like to have in their possession reinforcing pictorial images on every day wares such as a beer pitcher or a shaving mug of graphic hunting scenes?

10-paneled bulbous "manly" probably beer pitcher depicting a boar and stag hunt with hound handle. Awful to see those pronounced ribs -- feed the dog. Cowan’s, Cincinnati, Ohio, October 18, 2008.


Another pitcher of the same subject showing the other side. This one is attributed to E. & W. Bennett, Baltimore, Maryland, circa 1850. Cowan’s, June 21, 2008.

And how pleasant, hanging game... Garth’s Auctions, May 4, 2007
(Bummed the photo has been truncated.)

The embossed patterns on them maintained a cultural identity and the enactment of social roles. Although the ceramic was used at all social-class levels and in all types of communities from urban to rural, the images reinforced heavy expectations. Victorians were deeply concerned and conflicted about gender roles. And they were intensely materialistic people. For women, the theme of Rebekah at the Well was common. It reminded women to behave, serve and obey.

Garth's Auctions, Delaware, Ohio January 6, 2005.


D Marie's South Portland, Maine

Culture is a complex package of beliefs and behaviors. They are expressed through goods. Some of it we shape through our own preferences, and others forced upon us telling us what we need to choose and how we need to be.

These messages were seen over and over again every single day as the wares were used again and again. E. & W. Bennett pottery of Baltimore, Maryland is said to have first introduced Rebekah at the Well in the mid-nineteenth century and nearly all the potteries copied the pattern. In fact, by 1897 it was advertised in four sizes in the Sears Roebuck catalogue becoming the best and longest selling pattern in Rockingham history. The Rebekah at the Well theme embodied the Cult of True Womanhood which flourished during the mid-nineteenth century. (more of that in a post to come… as well as more Rockingham ware... for the darker, less mottled tortoise shell like glaze... Scatter ware, a colleague of mine likes to call it.)

Top image: Augustus Egg, Past and Present (1858)

Vampire Killing Kit

“How then are we to begin our strife to destroy him? How shall we find his where; and having found it, how can we destroy?”


So Bram Stoker wrote in his infamous novel Dracula, published in 1897. Dracula, the compelling creature of the night, gained immortality by biting the swan-like necks of fair maidens and sucking their blood. A most terrifying figure, he was also portrayed as handsome aristocrat, well-dressed, and impeccably groomed (he was, after all, a count). He was dangerously seductive until the moment he sunk his teeth into a beautiful woman’s alabaster neck, upon which his face turned ghostly, exposing his pointed teeth and flaming red eyes. It was feared that women would invariably succumb to his charms.

The vampire is one of the most pervasive and recognizable symbols of evil in Western culture. He possesses supernatural powers; he is different than other evil monsters such as the hairy werewolf or clumsy Frankenstein. He is not easily recognizable. The image of the vampire is flexible. He can be so many different things -- a threat to society, at the same time he can serve as an enticement from our hum-drum lives. He is alluring and that kind of phenomenon, a supremely evil creature disguised as a man of charm and good breeding, has tremendous appeal in our culture. The concept is seductive.

So impressive was the impact of the vampire on certain people -- so real did he seem to be -- that people were warned to have weapons to deal with the presence of a vampire.


Steven's Auctions: Fully equipped with holy water, garlic, cross and candles, this kit sold in October 2008 for $15,000.

Elaborate kits were crafted -- wooden boxes the size of a briefcase stuffed with all the necessary accoutrements to eliminate the vampire: crucifix, bible, a pistol, silver bullets, a rosary, vessels for garlic powder and various serums that could be injected intro the vampire.

What was the origin of these objects? Some vampirists claim such kits were common in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, while others claim many were more likely assembled following the publication of Bram Stoker's Dracula and marketed to anxious British travelers to Eastern Europe. Forests were dense and the fog heavy in Eastern Europe. Tourists took a huge chance by going there; if they did they needed the protection.

Mercer Museum in Doylestown, PA

A Professor Ernst Blomberg’s name appears on the label of many of these kits. On it he requests that the purchaser of the kit carefully studies the kit and should evil manifestations become apparent, he is adequately equipped to deal with them efficiently. The existence of Professor Blomberg has not been confirmed. Whether the whole things was a hoax or not, it didn’t matter; the image of the vampire in Western imagination was very vivid and real.

One thing is for sure and that is these kits have been selling for a lot of money on the market.

Garth's Auctions: September 1, 2006

Why are we so fascinated with vampires? This fascination did not begin with Stoker, two centuries prior to the publication of his book; there was a hysterical rash of vampire epidemics reported in Eastern Europe. In 1704 a book entitled Magia Posthuma was published by a Catholic lawyer named Karl Ferdinand von Schertz. Von Schertz examined reports of the living dead who roamed about in Moravia and other places and harming the living. Two decades later Austrian officials were investigated a similar case that was reported in northeastern Serbia. The locals there called the mysterious figure a “vampire”.

As the decades went on more cases were reported. Local people developed several means by which they could control a vampire’s activities. The best method to neutralize a vampire was to drive a wooden stake through his heart. To be on the safe side, it was recommended that the vampire be decapitated and his body burned.

In Russia, Romania and the Balkan States, people in the eighteen century believed that the soul didn’t depart from the body it inhabited until forty days after death. They also believed that the soul could linger for years, which would delay decomposition of the body. To check on this, bodies were dug up after a period of years. If, after a certain length of time, there was no evidence of decomposition, it was believed that the corpse was that of a vampire. However, if there was evidence of decomposition, the bones were cleaned with water and wine, wrapped in linens and reburied.

Vampire kit disguised as a book. Garth’s Auctions – September 1, 2006

The vampire phenomenon caught on quickly in certain parts of Europe. By 1734, for example, the word “vampire” had entered in the English language. Those early vampires were described as frightening grotesque. Their bloated faces turned purple from drinking blood; their fingernails grew long, and their bodies exuded a horrific smell. Out of fear, knowing that vampires could appear dead when they were just sleeping, as a precautionary measure, people would dig up graves, open the coffins and ram a stake into the hearts of the corpses.

In 1755, Empress Maria Theresa sent a renowned scientist to the Slavic region to find out more about vampires. She began passed laws forbidding the exhumation and destruction of corpses. The Habsburg Empire brought the oral folklore from the Balkans and Transylvanian region to the Western mind.
Sotheby’s: April 20, 2007. Realized: $7,200

Gradually, the vampire motif began to creep into the European consciousness. It attracted the attention of artists, scientists, clergy, and scholars and of course the general population. It also caught the imagination of poets and authors of gothic fiction which by the mid-eighteenth century had become very important to middle-class Victorians. Dead corpses were believed to be able to rise through the earth; tales of this phenomenon were written down, plays were performed. By the time of the Victorian era, the fear of decomposing corpses, and all the harm they could cause, infected the society to an almost hysterical degree.

Sotheby's, New York: October 8, 2004. Estimated: $4,000-$6,000; realized price: $26,400

In it contains:
(1) An efficient pistol with its usual accoutrements
(2) Silver bullets
(3) An ivory crucifix
(4) Powdered flowers of garlic
(5) A wooden stake
(6) Professor Blomberg's new serum

Dracula represents a universal fear of premature burial, wherein a person might appear to be dead but is actually still alive. Why we still have this fascination, I am not sure, but it translates across genders and we see movies and television shows about it. One thing for sure, is vampires are always good looking, well-poised and very refined. You don’t see any hillbilly vampires.

Check out the vampire kit at Manions Internatonal Auction House.

Got a Light? The Match Safe

The match safe was a small little box, of sorts, with a snug hinged lid. It was a popular item for men nearly 100 years. It contained matches reachable at any moment to light up a smoke. Men no longer had to search for a light as they would have one tucked into a pocket. Sometimes they would attach it by a chain to a waistcoat. One pocket might hold a watch and, the other, a match safe.

An American Art Nouveau Sterling Silver Match Safe with a repoussé design of sinuous scrolls and flourishes with an engraved center. Antiques & Old World Charms.

The friction match was invented around 1820s. Matches were an important technical advancement of the time. At first they produced an unsteady flame accompanied by an unpleasant odor. They could also spontaneously catch fire. The sulfur tip needed only slight friction to ignite and could explode in a pocket if unprotected. (Talk about hot pants!) However, these issues didn’t deter the popularity of smoking, and in fact the invention of the match even increased the habit. Later, the sulfurous odor was diminished by adding white phosphorus -- a dangerous chemical to anyone who handled enough of it. The risk was very high for “phossy” jaw.

This sweet little heart by Minshull & Latimer was crafted in 1900 with the initials of ‘FVB’ has been sold. You can see on the edge of the heart where matches were struck on the serrated edge of the case. Leopard Antiques.

To keep one safe from spontaneous combustion, these ingenious little boxes were invented and only a few inches in length. Referred to as Vesta Cases in England and Match Safes in America, they were fireproof, light and portable. Artfully designed with a closely fitted hinged top and serrated striker on the side or bottom, the inside of the case would often be gilded to protect the silver from the sulfur head of the match, which would otherwise tarnish the silver.

By Liberty & Co. most likely by Archibald Knox c. 1902. (see International Match Safe Associations's museum section).

They were designed in almost every conceivable material and in a variety of forms. Match safes were fashioned out of other materials such as wood, ivory, mother-of-pearl, tortoise shell, leather, bone and Bakelite. The decoration reflected the fads and fashions of the day.

Blue point crab claw by Gorham, 1890. (see International Match Safe Associations's museum section).

A wee little Scientific American newspaper by Enos Richardson & Co., 1890. (see International Match Safe Associations's museum section).

Formed in the shape of a violin. London, 1889. Available at Wax Antiques.

In the form of a dog’s head and made of sterling silver with real fur. (see International Match Safe Associations's museum section).

By Tiffany. Photos show the front and back. Note the little bug on the lid. Part of the the collection of Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum.

The more expensive ones were made from gold. Some were set with diamonds, rubies or other precious gems. Others had enameled designs which became popular later during the Edwardian era. Some of the most valuable match safes today are the enameled sterling ones depicting one favorite activity of men: hunting.

Enameled over sterling silver by Howard James, England c. 1890. Available at B Silverman.

By Reed and Barton c. 1900. Also from the collection of Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum.

But of course, many depicted the most favorite topic for the male viewer.

This one is from Germany c. 1900. (see International Match Safe Associations's museum section).

More common safes, however, were silver-plated, nickel-plated, or made of brass. Some were even made of nickel alloy to resemble sterling.

Brass Lady's Leg, Continental c. 1895. (see International Match Safe Associations's museum section).

As women were slowly and grudgingly admitted into the tobacco fraternity during Edwardian times, some match safes were designed to appeal to feminine tastes.

The invention of the pocket lighter curbed the use of the match safe. During the First World War soldiers found the pocket lighter to last longer and were easy to refill. Match safes fell out of favor when the new lighters became more available becoming obsolete by World War II.

Still popular with collectors today, a decade ago one fetched at auction quite a price:

A Victorian vesta case sold in 1999 at Christies for $12,429. The front is enameled with a seaside Punch and Judy tent. It shows Mr. Punch, Judy, Toby the Dog and a drummer, by Sampson Mordan, London 1887.

Many match safes can be purchased for a few hundred bucks. For those wanting to purchase a genuine article that is not only functional but also possesses a lovely aesthetic, think about one of these. Surely the match safe constitutes an affordable luxury in this day and age that some people can still buy and afford. Many costs less than a fancy cell phone designed to last only a matter of years, and it certainly last longer.

I am not a smoker but somehow after looking at these little match safes I am charmed by their ingenious workmanship. Next time I light my scented candles, I’d rather pull a match from a lovely little match safe rather than from a book of cardboard matches with the phone number of a bail bondsman stamped across the front.