Brief history of jewelry box

Jewelry has been worn by humans since the Stone Age and jewelry boxes have been around since the ancient era. The history of the jewelry box can date back centuries. Jewelry boxes were originally known as "jewel caskets." Throughout the ages, jewelry boxes have been designed and crafted by skilled craftsmen. The early jewel caskets were made out of metal, and finished with gold, silver, copper and ivory. They were valuable items, in themselves, even without the jewelry inside them.
The Industrial Revolution initiated the concept of mass production. It enabled the middle class of the society to purchase decorative items like the jewelry box along with other essential commodities. This was possible as jewelry boxes could be manufactured in bulk and the cost involved in the mass production was less. The boxes became affordable for a growing middle class that was starting to get a taste for luxurious products.
From 1904 to 1918, there was an overwhelming mass production of jewelry boxes. In this era, gold and silver boxes were very common. Silver-plated boxes are considered as antique jewelry boxes and are very rare. Other types of antique jewelry boxes include the souvenir boxes that have commemorative ceramic or photo discs. There are also the ivory finished boxes. Thought they were designed later, they are very hard to find. Their finishes were extremely durable. Hence, these antique jewelry boxes may still be passed down the family generations.
In the first years of the 20th Century American women yearned for the fashions of the world's big cities and were able to get fulfillment of this wish in the popular mail order catalogs of the day. Jewelry boxes became a popular "fashion" purchase in the mail order trade. Jewelry stores also carried the boxes as well.
Nowadays, jewelry boxes are more than mere places to store jewelry. Jewelry box has been known as a gorgeous piece of adornment used by women with their kinds of jewelry to beauty women’s life.