Wooden cigarette dispenser · inlaid star on the lid

A shallow wooden box with an inlaid six-pointed star on the lid — and a mechanism inside: opening it raises the cigarettes in a staircase of compartments, staggered so each can be taken singly.

Under the lid sits a row of narrow wooden slats on a spindle. Open it and they tip one after another — each lifting its cigarette a little higher than the last. That produces the characteristic staircase showing the whole supply at a glance. Dispensers like this were built between the twenties and the sixties, when smoking was part of receiving guests and the box sat on the drawing-room table.

The body is veneered, the edges picked out in pale wood. The star on the lid is inlaid, not burnt in: individual lozenges in alternating tones, sanded flush. Inside the dispenser is left bare.

• Cigarette dispenser with stepped mechanism
• Six-pointed star, inlaid
• Veneered body, edges picked out pale
• Mechanism works, every compartment lifts
• No maker's mark

Good. The mechanism runs, no slat sticking or missing. The veneer is complete, with a small split in the veneer at one corner and no lifting. The star is whole. Clean inside; air it for a few days if you like.