An early 20^th century Chinese export silver card case, Canton circa 1910, marked Xin, retailed by On Hing

Qing dynasty. Of rectangular form with a pull off lid. With chased decoration to one side of a Chinese dragon amidst clouds, the front with flowering prunus and a vacant shield shape cartouche, all against a textured ground. Marked to the bezel with artisan mark 新 (XIN), and retailer’s mark OH.

Length – 8.5 cm / 3.25 inches

Weight – 58 grams / 1.86 ozt

Upon the mark ON HING which is sometimes found in conjunction with OH, Dr Adrien von Ferscht writes: On Hing is, in my opinion Yuan Xing 逺興 a Canton silversmith. Typically when a Chinese mark appears only in a Romanised format the surname "ON" is "YUAN". The Hokkien dialect form of "逺" is "OAN"; many Chinese silversmiths were ethnically Hokkien.