BY ALEXANDRE-RAOUL MOREL (FL. 1833-1850), MARKED, PARIS, CIRCA 1835, WITH THE FRENCH THIRD STANDARD MARK FOR GOLD 1838-1918, THE FLANGE STAMPED WITH INVENTORY NUMBER 714

Louis Philippe I (1773-1850) was King of France from 1830-1848 as the leader of the Orléanist party. A cousin of King Louis XVI of France, he was proclaimed king in 1830 after his cousin Charles X was forced to abdicate in the wake of the events of the July Revolution of that year. His government, known as the July Monarchy, was dominated by members of a wealthy French elite and numerous former Napoleonic officials. His popularity, however, faded as economic conditions in France began to deteriorate in 1847, and he was forced to abdicate after the outbreak of the French Revolution of 1848. He lived out his life in exile in Great Britain.
Gold boxes by Alexandre-Raoul Morel are rare. He was born in 1801 and took over the business of his father, the famous goldsmith Gabriel-Raoul Morel in 1832. He worked in premises in the rue Neuve des Bons Enfants and was last recorded in 1850.