Product Description
This exquisite piece is as rare as they come. The large size enamel trinket box commemorates the Benjamin Franklin Award for Greatest public service performed by a private citizen.
In 1976, this fine piece was commissioned by the Horchow Collection for the American Institute for Public Service, lead by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Senator Robert Taft Jr., and Samuel Beard. It is part of a very limited number of designs, destined to be offered among the Institute’s first awards for public service, now known as the Jefferson Awards. This is one of those first awards.
The featured enamel scene is of Benjamin Franklin’s Experiments with Electricity. The inscription includes the name of the award and a salute to the upcoming (at the time) Bicentennial. In one piece, you can celebrate the birth of two great institutions and one great country, America!
The enamel box is in excellent original condition and comes complete with it’s outer display box and Certificate of Origin from Bilston & Battersea. The outer box may show a bit of wear from handling, as shown. This is one of the larger enamel boxes, measuring approximately 2.5 inches in diameter and 1.5 inches tall.
With the dark blue base to this piece, the marking and signatures are difficult to see in the photos, so I have included a picture of another piece (the 1973 award for greatest public service by an elected official) for your reference. The dedication shown against the red background is the same as that on the blue Benjamin Franklin piece.
Please take your time with the photos and consider them part of the description. Let me know if you have any questions and feel free to check out the many treasures of American history available in my shop! If you are more comfortable making your purchase on a platform like Etsy, this rare Halcyon Days box is available in my shop there as well.
Measurements
2.5″ in diameter x 1.25″ from top to bottom
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