www.925-1000.com

A little two compartment box made in London 1800 by Richard Lockwood and John Douglass.
Just what was it meant to hold?

Miles



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Hi Miles,

That's a tooth powder box, I guess it has two compartments for a choice or maybe a grade of tooth powder. I would have been part of a set that contained a tooth brush, tounge scraper and the box, all contained within a shargreen or leather case, the knob on the end of the box was a grip to slide it out of the case.

Regards Trev.
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Hi Miles.

Agree with Trev on a toothpowder box.
The toothbrush kit was sometimes called a "Tooth Etui".



Pat.
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Bang on. This will lead on to What-is-it-question CLXI part two, coming soon.

This is from an adverticement from 1715:
...near the Stock-Market...liveth a Gentlewoman that hath...a Powder for the Teeth, which makes them as white as Snow.

Wikipedia also mentions that the Romans used a tooth powder made from ground egg shells and bones. I've heard that the Georgians used ground salt and brick, but I haven't been able to find any record of that. Some tooth brushes of that period have red staining between the bristles.
Does anyone have a recipe for Georgian tooth powder?

Miles
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Mr. Ferene's "Rare Dentifrice" from Brooke's "A Queens Delight" (London, 1660).

"First take eight ounces of Irios roots, also four ounces of Pomistone, and eight ounces of Cutel Bone, also eight ounces of Mother of Pearl, and eight ounces of Coral, and a pound of Brown Sugar Candy, and a pound of Brick if you desire to make them red; but he did oftener make them white, and then instead of the Brick did take a pound of fine Alabaster; all this being thoroughly beaten and sifted through a fine searse."

Pomistone was a highly abrasive mineral more commonly used in erasing ink from parchment.
Cutel bone was the shell of the cuttle fish.

Pat.
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It sounds extremely abrasive!

Another bit of information about powder boxes from old court records.
It seems they were relatively expensive.
In 1826 a Thomas Rhodes was indicted for stealing, amongst other things, two silver tooth powder boxes which were valued at £2 12 shillings and a silver tooth brush box (of which I have never seen an example) valued at £5. For comparison, silver table spoons of this date are valued at between five and ten shillings.
One box of tooth powder would set you back one shilling in 1829. I wonder how large they were.

Miles

PS 12 pence in a shilling, 20 shillings in a pound.
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