General News
19 June, 2025
Museum News: Snippets From Our Past
This elegant travel manicure set, in its case, dates from the 1920s to 1930s.
By Leonie Montgomery, museum coordinator
Carter’s Price Guide for Antiques, displays many examples like this set, dating from late Victorian to mid-20th century.
Earlier sets tended to have sterling silver handles on the tools, with the faux tortoise shell seeming to become popular in the 1920s. Earlier sets were crafted with genuine tortoise shell.
The art of manicure goes back as far as Babylon and Egypt, with evidence that Cleopatra and Nefertiti coloured their nails with henna, which produced a varnish like finish.
The article ‘The History of Manicure’ by Sara Cedro in 1921, found that Babyloniean women fixed their nails only with gold tools. This was obviously a practice that was limited to the upper class and the well to do.
Sara goes on to say that a French doctor created a special nail set in the 1800s. The set consisted of “a suede nail file, a powder and a stick”.
This set quickly gained popularity. By the end of the 19th century, this style of set was distributed in almost all developing countries. Sara said that the cuticle removing tool was designed in America in around 1917.
Another article by Lauren Gabrielle Bourne identifies the French doctor as the doctor to King Louis XV, who after removing an inflamed burr from the royal’s finger, had the idea to create a manicure set for the common people. The next French King was Louis XVI, whose wife was the infamous Maire Antoinette. She is renowned to have had a manicure set with a carved pumice stone file.
As shown in the photograph, this set contains a nail buffer, metal cuticle pusher, and nail file all with faux tortoise shell handles.
There is also a faux tortoise shell cuticle pusher, a small pair of scissors, which don’t seem to be the original ones, and two small round containers with silver plate lids. All the sets I saw online had the two small pots, so these obviously held creams or powders that formed an integral part of the manicure process.
Very small compared to the size of the tubes of hand cream we now use, though cuticle cream still comes in a little pot.
The case is made from heavy cardboard with a paper covering. This gives a light and relatively strong container for a minimal cost. The paper is designed to look like quilted cream fabric, with pink rose bouquets scattered across. The case has rounded corners at the front and a little brass flap lock.
There are two brass hinges at the back attaching the lid. It seems logical that the set was designed for travelling, but similar items are described as ‘ladies boudoir sets’, which adorned the dressing table.
Opening the box reveals a satin lined lid surrounding a square mirror. The mirror is edged in the same paper as the box. The utensils sit on a raised padded cream velvet base, that is surrounded by the same ruched satin and cord as the lid.
The buffer and round pots sit in depressions at the back of the case, while the other items are held in place by loops. The scissors don’t fit in the remaining loops very well, so it is unclear as to whether the original scissors did, or if there is something missing from the set. Many early manicure sets in similar cases also have button hooks, to assist with looping the multitude tiny pearl buttons which adorned the sleeves and bodices of elegant clothing.
The need to continuously care for nails and hands has not changed, but gone are the days of having your tools fashioned to adorn your living space. What do you have in your collection?
Our family has cardboard files, a pair of cuticle scissors, clippers and a steel cuticle tool.
I must admit, a UV light and gel polishes are also a regular part of my routine.
If you do splash out for an actual manicure set, they are often in plain, zippered vinyl cases.
Many for sale online have 26 tools. So maybe rather than simplifying the routine, it has actually become more involved the care for your nails.
Regardless of how you complete this task, we are very fortunate to have been given this lovely manicure set which allows us to have a peek at the past.
Read More: Nyngan