There was a time – now almost without living memory – when the first meeting between two hitherto unknown parties – started with the exchange of one’s cards, be they simple calling-cards, or more elaborate business-cards.

Calling cards and business-cards of all kinds, date back centuries, all the way to the Georgian era. In an age when refinement, politeness and decorum ruled supreme, there were prescribed ways of doing literally, absolutely everything, and guides and rulebooks to social, business, and visiting etiquette had a lot to say on the subject of cards.

In this posting, I’ll be going over card-cases – the little boxes, sleeves, or cases, in which these once virtually mandatory slips of paper were carried around in.

What is a Calling Card?

I have covered calling cards in an earlier posting, so I won’t go into too much depth here. If you want to find out more, check the previous posting here.

Essentially, calling cards were invented as a way to identify and introduce people if you were moving around in polite society. The idea that you just barged into someone’s house or office unannounced was considered the height of rudeness in the 1800s! You never just shoehorned your way into someone’s home or office without announcing yourself! How dare you!?

Presenting your card was a way for the occupant, owner or businessman, to know who was calling upon him, or her, and whether they wanted to accept the call, or not. You weren’t ‘visiting’ people, you were ‘calling’ on them. Hence ‘calling’ cards.

Almost everybody who could afford them, had calling cards. They could be small, large, medium-sized, plain, or incredibly elaborate. At the very least, cards contained the bearer’s name. As card-cutting and printing technology improved with the Industrial Revolution, cards became more and more elaborate and might include not only your name, but also your address, any professional, courtesy, military or aristocratic ranks or titles, your occupation…and by the early 1900s – things like your telephone number. It was around this time that the line that once separated ‘calling cards’ and ‘business cards’ started becoming more and more blurred, and nowadays, they’re usually one and the same.

In an age before voicemail, emails and paging, calling cards were a way to leave a discrete, neat, polite message, if you called on someone, and they weren’t available. You left your card, to show that you had been there. You might even write a message on the back, to indicate when you might return, how the recipient might contact you, or the reason for your call.

Calling cards became such a fixture of polite society and proper business relations that almost as soon as cards could be manufactured in abundance, card-carriers started needing to find ways to store their cards. It wouldn’t do to keep them stuffed into your pockets or crammed into your wallet along with the shilling coins, half-crowns, silver dollars and dimes – oh no! To hand over a wrinkled, marked, torn or otherwise imperfect card was a huge faux-pas!

It was for this reason that card-cases were invented.

The Victorian Card Case

Card-cases only started being manufactured from the mid-1800s onwards. Literacy, and more importantly – manufacturing processes – were increasing in efficiency and quality, which allowed for the creation of cheap calling cards, and this was what caused the creation of card-cases. Such cases were made of all kinds of materials, but their general manufacture doesn’t predate the Victorian era – cards simply just weren’t enough of a thing before the 1840s, to justify manufacturing cases specifically to hold them.

Card-cases were often made of mother-of-pearl or abalone, tortoise-shell, silver, or if you could afford it – even ivory! Cases varied in size from tiny, to enormous! Unlike today, there was no standard size in Victorian times, for how large a card had, or should, be.

Today, to aid the manufacture of things like wallets, briefcases, and card-cases, all cards – business-cards, credit-cards, transport and ID cards, even drivers’ license cards – are all made to the same dimensions. This sort of standardization did not exist in Victorian times, which is why Victorian card cases could vary widely in size, from a width of barely over an inch, to wider than two inches, from a length of just over three inches, to up to nearly five!

The majority of card cases were eventually standardised (more or less) at between three inches wide and four inches long, and maybe 2-3/8 of an inch thick – enough to hold a decent number of cards, while out and about on the town.

Since card-cases were often a reflection of the owner’s personal tastes, they came in a wide variety of styles, from plain to engraved, chased, repoussed…some cases were even sold with high-relief images of famous buildings on them, like cathedrals, the Crystal Palace, or notable country houses on the sides. Cases in silver, depicting particularly famous buildings, or which were made by particular silversmiths, are the ones which command the highest prices.

Buying an Antique Card Case

There’s lots of considerations to be made when buying an antique, or vintage card-case, and here, we’ll be going through them, bit by bit…

Size

When it comes to card-cases, size matters. And it matters more than you might think, because, like I said earlier – Victorian cards were not made to any standard size. Because of this, card cases also came in a wide variety of sizes. When purchasing a vintage one for your own cards, it’s important to know whether the case you like is even going to fit the cards you’ll put into it.

For this reason, when buying a card case, always carry a card (or even a slip of paper on you) which you intend to put into said case, to make sure that the cards fit in, and more importantly, that the lid closes!

Defects

For longevity, beauty and strength, most antique card-cases were made of silver, usually of a very thin gauge, or thickness. When buying an antique card-case, make sure that there aren’t any defects that will compromise the case’s usability.

For example: Keep an eye out for wonky or cracked hinges, splitting or separating seams, cracks from metal fatigue, or even wear-holes, from where the silver has been polished so extensively that it’s worn right through the metal! Also make sure that the case opens and closes smoothly and that the lid won’t accidentally drop open unexpectedly.

Materials

The vast majority of card cases were made of silver, but many other materials were also used. Popular ones included mother of pearl, abalone shell, and tortoise-shell. Since these materials were fragile, they were often just used for decoration. Usually, it was a veneer of shell, over a case made of wood, onto which the slices of shell were simply glued, sanded and polished.

The one exception to this was ivory: Often, card-cases made of ivory were made of sheets, strips and panels of ivory glued and riveted together. Ivory could be sliced thicker than tortoise-shell or abalone, which meant that the panels were stronger, allowing you to manufacture cases out of ivory using the ivory alone, without wood to reinforce it.

When purchasing a case made of natural materials, keep an eye on cracking, but also glue-failures. Over time, old glue dries out, gets brittle, and then the panels of nacre or shell, crack and drop off. Usually these flaws are repairable, but it’s important to check for these things in advance – once they fall off, these decorative pieces can be easily broken, and it’s better to know about this stuff before you buy it, rather than after, so that you can make allowances for it.

Another thing to be aware of is lifting and warping. Natural materials such as ivory, and tortoise-shell can dry out over the decades, and this drying can cause panels of ivory or sheets of shell, to crack, split, warp, and lift away from the wooden backing upon which they’ve been glued. Avoid any cases with defects like these, as they can be very fragile and difficult to repair. Trying to glue down a warped piece of ivory or shell will only cause undue stress on the panel of natural material, which could cause it to crack!

Any pieces which have simply dropped off due to age, however, can usually be sanded smooth to remove the old glue, and then simply carefully glued back into place, using modern adhesives, with no problem.

Clasps and Hinges

Apart from the materials that the case is made of, also check the workmanship of any moving parts. On card-cases, this usually means paying attention to the hinge that holds the lid together, and the clasp that keeps it shut!

Not all card cases have clasps or catches, but when they do, they’re usually spring-loaded, with little brass catches or hooks, and release-buttons built into the edge of the case. Make sure that the clasps hold the lid firmly shut and that the release-button can open it easily. The majority of silver card-cases were simply friction-closed, but cases made of wood and clad in natural materials had clasps, to ensure proper closure.

Pay particular attention to the main stress-point on all antique card cases: The hinge. These are often very small, and are only held in by a couple of rivets or a soldering-job, and a very small, possibly peened-over, hinge pin. This is where things like metal fatigue happens, and where pins, rivets and screws can work themselves loose or pop out.

Card-Cases Today

You can still buy calling-card or business-card cases today, and a number of companies still manufacture them, however, for anything flashier than punched steel, or brass, expect to pay a premium. In most cases, purchasing a card-case in sterling silver (the most common material in the old days), is best done secondhand – antique or otherwise vintage silver card-cases can usually be picked up in good condition, for anywhere between $200 – $500+, depending on condition. Cases made by famous manufacturers command a premium, and can have asking prices of well over $1,000. By comparison a brand-new silver card-case, from say, a company like Tiffany & Co., can cost upwards of nearly $700!