Rare cased Stratnoid butterfly wing compact S S Montclare ship compact

Rare antique butterfly wing powder compact

Number eighteen in our all time Top Twenty Vintage Stratton Powder Compacts.

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A very beautiful & exceptionally rare cased Stratnoid Blue Morpho Butterfly (Morpho peleides)  It is in the finest condition possible having been an unused collector's piece. Made in the 1920s with great skill & attention to detail. The lid is made from the wings of a Blue Morpho Butterfly. The lid is beautiful & having been well protected by both the celluloid film covering it & the original case. It is flawless.

The scene is of the Steam Ship Montclare. She left Liverpool 18 August 1922 on her maiden voyage, bound for Quebec and Montreal. She played an important role in WWII: 

'She sailed from the Clyde on 1 March 1945 in convoy via the Suez Canal, arriving in Sydney on 20 April 1945. She then sailed to Manus in the Admiralty Islands to support the destroyers of Task Force 57 on Operation Iceberg - the conquest of Okinawa and Sakishma Gunto islands. Rear Admiral DB Fisher CB CBE then took her as his flagship for the Pacific Fleet Train (Task Force 112) with the British Pacific Fleet until the war finished. She remained mainly in Manus until 4 September 1945 when she sailed to Hong Kong arriving on the 9th for the re-occupation of Hong Kong. She finally left Hong Kong on 3 January 1946, her crew having played a vital part in getting the Colony back on its feet again. She arrived back in Portsmouth on 21 February 1946, and was reduced to Reserve status prior to conversion to Submarine Depot Ship. In 1953 she took part in the Fleet Review to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II' - this paragraph was taken from Wiki.

Back to the compact. The case opens easily to show the fan-shaped inner lid which rotates to allow access to powder stored before. This compact has never has any powder placed in it. Everything works perfectly.
The inner lid is signed 'REG. DESIGN. No 767198 STRATNOID MADE IN ENGLAND. The polished steel mirror is excellent. The base is decorated with wavy parallel lines & an oblong cartouche in the middle. The original case is pristine on the inside as you can see from image 5. It is robust & in good condition. The hinge & clasp work perfectly on the case. 

This would grace any collection.

This rare Stratnoid compact measures 2" X 2" & weighs 48 grams

Delivery aims:
UK usually next working day delivery.
Europe approximately five working days.
USA, Australia, New Zealand & the rest of the world approximately 10 working days or less.

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