Battersea Boxes – Friday Favorites

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Let’s talk about Battersea boxes. Have you ever heard of them?

They are little boxes, about the size of a pill box, usually made of enamel or porcelain.  They were given as sentimental gifts, and that’s why I’m featuring them near Valentine’s Day!  Some of the themes of these boxes are of love!  There are many other themes too.

They were made under Sir Stephen Theodore Janssen at the York House in Battersea from 1753-1756.  They had a unique way of printing called transfer printing.

An impression was made from an engraved metal plate that had been brushed with enamel colors and then transferred to a box. Factories in nearby towns, such as Bilston, also produced similar boxes.  They are sometimes called “Bilston Boxes”, but the original method of transfer printing started in Battersea gave them their name “Battersea Boxes”.

Original Battersea boxes can be very pricey.  It is very hard to find an antique one that is not cracked either.

If the cracks bother you, there are new ones made to this day by Halcyon Days.

They were used as pill boxes, snuff boxes, hold make up or other little trinkets. They are all very small – no bigger than 2″ I’d say.  Most of them are about the size as a half dollar.

From Philadelphia Museum Art

Source for original information – Chicago Tribune

Unfortunately I could not find the original source for many of the pictures.

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3 Comments

  1. February 8, 2019 / 1:40 pm

    Battersea Boxes are truly charming. Like you, I rarely see them, and none are in my collection. I do have a Halcyon heart that my sweetheart gave me on our first visit to London. It holds lots of sentiment and memories for me. These images are some of the prettiest I’ve seen. Where did you find them?
    Thanks for sharing this interesting post. Happy Weekend!

    • Angelina
      Author
      February 8, 2019 / 4:08 pm

      I found them on Pinterest and Google.

  2. Antiquestyle
    February 12, 2019 / 8:25 pm

    I have a small collection of boxes. eBay is a great source. When I search there, I see them also called patch boxes. Not sure why. More to research! Love the photos!

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