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I saw this sell unidentified on ebay for around $1800. Was wondering if it may have sold for more if the artist was anyone special. Any idea on what the marks on the side say as well as the ones on the bottom?

The four-character mark on the box (2nd photo) reads down as 萬𤼵永記, but the second character is obsolete. My best guess is that it may have been replaced by 發, and that the mark is 萬發永記, which would be Wan Fayong Ji (Registered mark of Wan Fayong, with Wan being a surname. My cursory search of the characters found one Google hit on Wan Fa Yong (萬發永) as a firm involved in the issuance of private banknotes in "1907" (32nd year of the Guangxu reign).

Link to the German website is included herewith in the event anyone is curious.

Best
regards,

Bill H.


URL Title :Wan Fa Yong

Thanks for the help, Bill. After seeing the auction I was curious as to why it went so high. It is definitely a nice little export silver box, but I thought maybe the name may have belonged to someone special.

Basically, I agree with Bill's company reg. mark
interpretation,too. However, it also can be interpreted as 萬發　永記　（For)Long lasting memory
of the 10000th event of( hit,victory,sales etc.) something.
More conspicuous is that 弓矢癶 variant
of 發　character can be found only on mahjong
tiles.
For me it would be more interesting to see
the full text of the side inscription.
Middle: 異味　　Rare Delicacy
首菊　仁兄　 A Chrysanthemum
SweetBrother
Left 大人印　Daren mark (Three legs)
鎮　　　Zhen
　　　　〼　　　Because of the wrong angle
　　　　　　　　I can not read it。The two　
　　　　　　　　characters could be a name of
a town
　張　　Zhang (Seal script)
I would be pleased to see the right hand side of the script,too.
With regards,

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