Victorian Novelty Silver Combined Whistle and Vesta Case

A Victorian Novelty Silver Combined Whistle and Vesta Case, of plain flat tubular form with hinged lid and attached suspension ring. Silver gilt interior.

By William Thomas Wright & Frederick Davies, London, 1892.

Vesta cases, which also go by the name of vesta boxes, matchsafes and pocket matchsafes, were used to stores vestas (short matches) and to keep them dry so that they were able to light when struck. They were first made in the 1830s, with their heyday being between 1890 and 1920, when everyone kept a vesta box to hand, though while the poor had boxes made from tin, the vesta boxes of the wealthy were made from gold and silver. Most vesta boxes had a ribbed surface on the bottom so that the owner could also strike the matches kept inside, while some also include cigar cutters and small knife blades. Steppes Hill Farm Antiques stocks a variety of antique silver vesta cases from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, specialising in enamel, novelty and engraved designs.

Steppes Hill Farm Antiques has a wide variety of antique silver whistles available for sale, including referee’s whistles and whistles combined with vesta cases. The whistle as we know it today, the pea whistle, was first invented by Joseph Hudson in the 1880s, and was first used by football referees and the police force before expanding to the general market. Before the invention of the pea whistle, existing whistles such as penny whistles were used only for musical purposes. We stock a number of fine examples of antique silver whistles from the nineteenth and twentieth century, and we would be glad to advise on any of our collectible items.

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This object is eligible for a Certificate of BADA Provenance

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