J from Santa Barbara has this little box of what appears to contain instruments of torture. Is it some kind of medical thing? He asks. His great great Uncle came from a long line of medical people. So he suspects he has something ghoulish here, and he does. Inside this little fish-skin covered case (3.75 inches high) we find a little folding silver plate ruler, a scissor that look faintly aggressive, and a penetrating-looking fork, spectacles, and worse, a scalpel, and a scoop. The scoop is to take samples of bone narrow. And the fork? The mind boggles…. I can only imagine. Remember in those days of primitive medicine, doctors focused on the blood and marrow for diagnostics.
Gentlewomen of the period wore these little fitted cases, called Etui, around the waist on a chatelaine (a chain that contained ladies’ necessary objects such as a coin purse, keys, and a perfume bottle). If a lady went out to a ball, she’d also have worn around her waistchain a little silver book for her ‘dance card.’ But J’s Etui appears far more masculine and sinister, because this was a travelling surgeon’s Etui. The glory of J’s case is that it seems to come complete, even though it dates from 1810-1820. I mentioned the fish-skin covering, but it could be the more upscale shark shin, called shagreen. The top is hinged and finished, and sometimes the whole piece was painted and decorated.
However, J’s looks more functional and grim, so no flowers or commemorative imagery. J will be disappointed to know that his esteemed relatives who were doctors could also have been barbers, because in the very early 19th century and back into the 18th, doctors acted as barbers and barbers acted as doctors. Ask your barber if you felt ill to open a vein and let out the ‘bad blood.’ Out of that practice we get the expression ‘bad blood.’ And his relative who was either a doctor or a barber or both, who presumably wore this little Etui on his watch chain attached to a fob. Always at the ready, to open your vein. J I hope I am not spilling family blood here.
J, your relative was probably a minor barber/doctor, of middlebrow skills, because some of these medical Etuis get far more dangerous. One type of medical Etui, called a Lancet, contained grisly tools inside, such as the more advanced very sharp and expendable poker, a spring loaded blade shaped like a miniature dagger (to make a quick incision to draw blood), guards for the doctor/barbers eyes (to shield from spurting blood) forks, scoops, and various sizes of scalpels. Very ingenious how early artisans could put these all together in a small box, portable enough to wear.
One famous kit, a doctor/barber Etui, dating a little later than J’s, actually became the first medical billing and text-messaging center known to humankind. This etui carried small bits of writing paper, to write down medical instructions, and a place for dried ink and little tiny pens. That meant the doctor/barber wrote notes as he left his fainting patient so he wouldn’t have to face the music, and actually ASK for the bill. All of this fit into a box about 4 inches tall. I see that medical billing has not changed all that much.
I mentioned ladies’ Etuis, and more than often women used these as little sewing cases, worn on the chatelaine. These could be porcelain, silver, or gold, and sometimes ivory. And worn all over the world. Some of the most beautiful came from Japan, worn by men only. Sewing Etuis became very popular, and in the day very necessary. In the late 18th century not many gowns had buttons and none had zippers. One sewed oneself, or had one’s maid sew the lady, into a gown. Many times a gown required an emergency repair. Precious needles and straight pins kept in such silver and gold Etuis cost plenty. Collectors consider these quite valuable because they’re usually pretty and much less grisly than J’s medical kit.
The value of J’s medical kit? $1,000. And many auction houses would love to have such a complete kit. I suggest he get in touch with Skinner in Boston. Etuis usually sell for way over what is estimated at that house.