Small Silver Beehive-shaped Reel, Austria, Vienna 1865

Small solid silver dispenser in the shape of a beehive Austria, Vienna, probably 1865 Ht: 5.2 cm Base diameter: 4.8 cm Weight: 85g Very good condition. Small indentations at the opening of the tube. ----- The main body - very finely decorated - is crossed by a tube, closed at the bottom. The solid silver base screws onto the main body. The best interpretation we can give to this atypical object is that of a reel: the ball of thread is wound around the central tube and unwound through the small opening. Needles or small scissors can be inserted into the tube (see photo 9). However, we did not find any comparative exactitudes. The small silver beehive is known in Austria in the 19th century, but they are almost always piggy banks (see, for example, the Dorotheum sale of July 16, 2020) (photo 10). ----- The base bears the hallmarks of the master silversmith (IK) and the city of Vienna for the silver 13 Lot; if the numbers on the left are illegible, we can guess on the right an 8 and a 5, very probably for 1865 if we refer to the dating of the small hive-piggy bank of Dorotheum [1864], with a very similar design. But older dating cannot be ruled out.