Our catalogue > Betel-related Antiques

Betel (also known as paan or sirih) is the palm nut, lime powder & vine leaf quid that traditionally was chewed in South & Southeast Asia and was a social narcotic similar to alcohol or tobacco. The Dutch colonialists particularly also took up the habit. Elaborate boxes for storing betel and other associated paraphernalia were made. This page is reserved for such objects.

Each item is for sale.

Each piece has been sourced from within the UK, often from old, colonial-era collections.

Do sign-up for our monthly catalogues so you can see new additions to our stock as they arrive.

or...

9033

Enquiry about object: 9033

    Your First Name (required)

    Your Last Name (required)

    Your Email (required)

    Your Country (required)

    Your Message

    Indian Mughal Brass Pandan

    Mughal, northern India
    17th century

    height: 7.8cm, width: 12.5cm, weight: 882g

    Available - Click for more images and videos

    Provenance

    UK art market

    4052

    Enquiry about object: 4052

      Your First Name (required)

      Your Last Name (required)

      Your Email (required)

      Your Country (required)

      Your Message

      Unusually Large, Silver Filigree Betel Box

      Dutch East Indies, or possibly India
      circa 1700

      length: 22.3cm, width: 16cm, height: 10cm, weight: 1,675g

      Available - Click for more images and videos

      Provenance

      Private London collection (estate)

      8608

      Enquiry about object: 8608

        Your First Name (required)

        Your Last Name (required)

        Your Email (required)

        Your Country (required)

        Your Message

        Dutch Colonial Ebony & Silver Betel Box

        Batavia, Dutch East Indies (Indonesia)
        first half of the 18th century

        width: 14.8cm, height: 7cm, depth: 10.5cm, weight: 528g

        Available - Click for more images and videos

        Provenance

        UK art market

        5891

        Enquiry about object: 5891

          Your First Name (required)

          Your Last Name (required)

          Your Email (required)

          Your Country (required)

          Your Message

          Large, Silver-Inlaid Winged Brass Betel Box (Lutuan)

          Mindanao, Philippines
          late 19th-20th century

          length: 40.6cm, height: 17.1cm, depth: 13.2cm, weight: more than 5000g

          Available - Click for more images and videos

          Provenance

          UK art market

          6730

          Enquiry about object: 6730

            Your First Name (required)

            Your Last Name (required)

            Your Email (required)

            Your Country (required)

            Your Message

            Mindanao Brass Betel Box

            Mindanao, The Philippines
            circa 1900

            width: 15.3cm, height: 6.9cm, depth: 8.3cm, weight: 1,135g

            Available - Click for more images and videos

            Provenance

            UK art market

            7099

            Enquiry about object: 7099

              Your First Name (required)

              Your Last Name (required)

              Your Email (required)

              Your Country (required)

              Your Message

              Enamelled Silver Pandan

              North India
              circa 1900

              height: 5.3cm, diameter: 6.3cm, weight: 147g

              Available - Click for more images and videos

              Provenance

              UK art market

              6528

              Enquiry about object: 6528

                Your First Name (required)

                Your Last Name (required)

                Your Email (required)

                Your Country (required)

                Your Message

                Exceptional Dutch Colonial Tortoiseshell Betel Box with Fine Silver Mounts

                Dutch Colonial East Indies, either Malay, Sumatra or Batavia (Indonesia today)
                18th century

                height: 8.1cm, length: 19cm, depth: 13.3cm

                Available - Click for more images and videos

                Provenance

                UK art market

                6578

                Enquiry about object: 6578

                  Your First Name (required)

                  Your Last Name (required)

                  Your Email (required)

                  Your Country (required)

                  Your Message

                  Dutch Colonial Silver Betel Box & Key

                  Dutch East Indies, probably Batavia
                  18th century

                  width: 14.7cm, depth: 9.9cm, height: 6cm, weight: 586g

                  Available - Click for more images and videos

                  Provenance

                  UK art market

                  6374

                  Enquiry about object: 6374

                    Your First Name (required)

                    Your Last Name (required)

                    Your Email (required)

                    Your Country (required)

                    Your Message

                    Two Early Thai Bronze Betel Cups

                    Tenasserim region, Thailand/Burma
                    circa 14th-15th century

                    height: 9cm and 4.6cm, combined weight: 349g

                    Available - Click for more images and videos

                    Provenance

                    private collection, London. Collected in Burma, in Tenasserim in 1933, by Maurice Collis (1889-1973). Collins entered the Indian Civil Service in 1911 & was posted to Burma in 1912. His postings included Sagaing & Arakan. He served as a district magistrate in Rangoon (1929-1930) and thereafter as Excise Commissioner. He returned to England in 1934 and wrote many books including on Burma.

                    6127

                    Enquiry about object: 6127

                      Your First Name (required)

                      Your Last Name (required)

                      Your Email (required)

                      Your Country (required)

                      Your Message

                      Large, Cambodian Silver Hen-Shaped Betel Lime Box

                      Cambodia
                      circa 1920

                      length: 19.5cm, height: 20cm, weight: 611g

                      Available - Click for more images and videos

                      Provenance

                      UK art market

                      5588

                      Enquiry about object: 5588

                        Your First Name (required)

                        Your Last Name (required)

                        Your Email (required)

                        Your Country (required)

                        Your Message

                        Indian Brass Lime Box for Betel

                        India
                        19th century

                        length: 8.5cm, width: 4.5c,. height: 4.3cm, weight: 177g

                        Available - Click for more images and videos

                        Provenance

                        UK art market

                        5885

                        Enquiry about object: 5885

                          Your First Name (required)

                          Your Last Name (required)

                          Your Email (required)

                          Your Country (required)

                          Your Message

                          Two Timorese Beaded Lime Containers

                          Atoni or Dawan people of West Timor, Indonesia
                          early 20th century

                          lengths (without tassels): 10.5cm

                          Available - Click for more images and videos

                          Provenance

                          formerly in the collection of Henry Brownrigg, author of a book on the betel cutters in the Samuel Eilenberg Collection

                          4823

                          Enquiry about object: 4823

                            Your First Name (required)

                            Your Last Name (required)

                            Your Email (required)

                            Your Country (required)

                            Your Message

                            Fine, West Java Woven Betel Container

                            Singaparna region, West Java, Indonesia
                            late 19th century-early 20th century

                            height: 13.5cm, diameter: 12cm

                            Available - Click for more images and videos

                            Provenance

                            private collection, UK.

                            5533

                            Enquiry about object: 5533

                              Your First Name (required)

                              Your Last Name (required)

                              Your Email (required)

                              Your Country (required)

                              Your Message

                              Dutch Colonial Silver Betel Box

                              Dutch East Indies, probably Batavia
                              18th century

                              length: 17.7cm, height: 7.1cm, depth: 12.3cm, weight: 975g

                              Available - Click for more images and videos

                              Provenance

                              UK art market

                              3791

                              Enquiry about object: 3791

                                Your First Name (required)

                                Your Last Name (required)

                                Your Email (required)

                                Your Country (required)

                                Your Message

                                Dutch Colonial Betel Box of Amboyna Wood & Pierced Silver Mounts

                                Batavia, Dutch East Indies (Indonesia)
                                18th century

                                height: 9cm, length: 19.5cm, depth: 13.5cm

                                Available - Click for more images and videos

                                Provenance

                                private collection, UK.

                                226

                                Enquiry about object: 226

                                  Your First Name (required)

                                  Your Last Name (required)

                                  Your Email (required)

                                  Your Country (required)

                                  Your Message

                                  Four Jamnagar ‘Gulab’ Betel Cutters Made in India for the Indonesian Market

                                  Jamnagar, India, but collected in Java, Indonesia.
                                  19th-20th century

                                  length: each is approximately 15 cm

                                  Available - Click for more images and videos

                                  Provenance

                                  private collection, London; acquired in the 1980s in Indonesia.

                                  3229

                                  Enquiry about object: 3229

                                    Your First Name (required)

                                    Your Last Name (required)

                                    Your Email (required)

                                    Your Country (required)

                                    Your Message

                                    Colonial Batavian Silver & Gilt Betel Box Set

                                    Batavia, Dutch East Indies
                                    early 19th century

                                    length of box: 21.3cm, depth: 13.6cm, height: 7cm, combined weight: 1,159g

                                    Available - Click for more images and videos

                                    Provenance

                                    UK art market

                                    641

                                    Enquiry about object: 641

                                      Your First Name (required)

                                      Your Last Name (required)

                                      Your Email (required)

                                      Your Country (required)

                                      Your Message

                                      Engraved Silver Betel & Lime Boxes

                                      Sumatra, Indonesia
                                      19th century

                                      length: 6.7cm, chain length: 21.5cm, total weight: 128g

                                      Available - Click for more images and videos
                                      640

                                      Enquiry about object: 640

                                        Your First Name (required)

                                        Your Last Name (required)

                                        Your Email (required)

                                        Your Country (required)

                                        Your Message

                                        Engraved Silver Betel & Lime Boxes

                                        Sumatra, Indonesia
                                        19th century

                                        length: 6.5cm, total weight: 117g

                                        Available - Click for more images and videos

                                        Provenance

                                        private collection, London.

                                        639

                                        Enquiry about object: 639

                                          Your First Name (required)

                                          Your Last Name (required)

                                          Your Email (required)

                                          Your Country (required)

                                          Your Message

                                          Engraved Silver Betel Box

                                          Sumatra, Indonesia
                                          19th century

                                          length: 8cm, combined weight: 148g

                                          Available - Click for more images and videos

                                          Provenance

                                          private collection, London

                                          1010

                                          Enquiry about object: 1010

                                            Your First Name (required)

                                            Your Last Name (required)

                                            Your Email (required)

                                            Your Country (required)

                                            Your Message

                                            Sri Lankan Tortoiseshell Betel Box with Engraved, Parcel-gilt Silver Mounts

                                            Sri Lanka
                                            late 18th century

                                            length: 16cm, width: 12cm, height: 5.2cm, weight: 305g

                                            Available - Click for more images and videos

                                            Provenance

                                            UK art market

                                            1715

                                            Enquiry about object: 1715

                                              Your First Name (required)

                                              Your Last Name (required)

                                              Your Email (required)

                                              Your Country (required)

                                              Your Message

                                              Exceptionally Fine Indian Deccan Parcel-Gilt Silver Filigree Pandan

                                              Deccan, India
                                              18th century

                                              height: 5cm, length: 9.6cm, weight: 77g

                                              Available - Click for more images and videos

                                              Provenance

                                              UK art market

                                              1716

                                              Enquiry about object: 1716

                                                Your First Name (required)

                                                Your Last Name (required)

                                                Your Email (required)

                                                Your Country (required)

                                                Your Message

                                                Dutch Colonial Amboyna Wood & Red Lacquer Betel Box with Silver Mounts

                                                Batavia, Dutch East Indies
                                                late 17th-early 18th century

                                                height: 8.8cm, length: 20cm, depth: 14.5cm, weight: 794g

                                                Available - Click for more images and videos

                                                Provenance

                                                collection of Paul Walter; Spink, London

                                                2182

                                                Enquiry about object: 2182

                                                  Your First Name (required)

                                                  Your Last Name (required)

                                                  Your Email (required)

                                                  Your Country (required)

                                                  Your Message

                                                  Sepik Lime Container in the form of a Rooster on a Crocodile

                                                  Iatmul People, Middle Sepik River Region, Papua New Guinea
                                                  first half of the 20th century

                                                  length: 68cm

                                                  Available - Click for more images and videos

                                                  Provenance

                                                  Francis de Sales McHugh Collection, and thence by descent, collected by de Sales McHugh in the first half of the 20th century .

                                                  3535

                                                  Enquiry about object: 3535

                                                    Your First Name (required)

                                                    Your Last Name (required)

                                                    Your Email (required)

                                                    Your Country (required)

                                                    Your Message

                                                    Mindanao Philippines Silver-Inlaid Brass Betel Box

                                                    Mindanao, Philippines
                                                    19th-20th century

                                                    length: 25cm, height: 13.3cm, depth: 12.6cm

                                                    Available - Click for more images and videos

                                                    Provenance

                                                    UK art market

                                                    2998

                                                    Enquiry about object: 2998

                                                      Your First Name (required)

                                                      Your Last Name (required)

                                                      Your Email (required)

                                                      Your Country (required)

                                                      Your Message

                                                      Mindanao Silver-Inlaid Brass Betel Box (Lutuan)

                                                      Islamic Mindanao, Philippines
                                                      early 20th century

                                                      length: 20.7cm, height: 10.8cm, depth: 9.6cm, weight: 2,873g

                                                      Available - Click for more images and videos

                                                      Provenance

                                                      UK art market