Lovely little portable scent bottle. It was made by Copeland in bone china and the solid silver top was made by Sampson Mordan & Co of London. The original Sampson Mordan was the co-inventor of the propelling pencil in the 1820s and his firm went on to invent and make all manner of silverware and other metal goods and only went out of business after their factory was bombed out during the Blitz in 1941. The registered number 29260 is for 1885 and as this design appears not to been registered by Copeland, this was probably a Mordan product and they sourced the bottles from Copeland.
I would not have thought that many would have been made and sold, but who knows. Today, they do turn up, but not often. I have one sitting on my desk in front of me as I write. The late Robert Copeland, who identified ours for us, also had one in his private collection. We have seen about 10 in 16 years? A few years ago 3 turned up in quick fire succession at different auctions and we bought all three.
On the sterling silver top on ours the hall mark is SM for Sampson Mordan and then the three marks for London 1886.
Regards
Andrew
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