Visiting cards were once a key indicator of social class. These days their cases remain highly collectable
COLLECTABLES from a bygone era are always among the most popular lots in the auction house, and they take many forms, from silverware to gruesome surgeon’s instruments to tea caddies.
However, one of the most popular items with collectors is card cases, used to carry calling cards or visiting cards by well-bred Regency and Victorian ladies and gentlemen.
In 1811 text Our Deportment, Or the Manners, Conduct and Dress of the Most Refined Society John H Young wrote: “To the unrefined and underbred, the visiting card is but a trifling bit of paper; but to the cultured disciple of social law, it conveys a subtle and unmistakable intelligence.”
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