Italian 800 Silver Wax Jack / Bougie Box. Venetian, made by Aldo-Brondino, still contains a coil of red wax. Figural Leaf top, beaded top and bottom and thumb tab. Measures 3.75"x2.50"x3.25". Weight is 130 grams. PROVENANCE: A Charleston SC Private Estate. The wax jack was a container or a support holding up a taper, treated with wax or turpentine, lit to heat the block or coil of sealing wax used to fasten letters and documents. Usually, a personal seal with a design cut into the bottom was pressed into the hot wax to leave personal identification. After the seal hardened, it was almost impossible to secretly open the letter, because the wax would break. The wax jack was a common 19th c. desk accessory, along with the inkwell, sand container and bell. Occasionally wax jacks were used as a mobile light, perhaps because they were more stable than taper sticks, blew out less easily and gave a better light. The bougie-box or taper-box was a cylindrical container to hold the wax-taper coil when not in use. The cover was originally flat and a tube at the top of the cover permitted the coiled taper to emerge

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