These hard leather cases were used to protect fragile or precious items from damage.

The cases are often separate from the items which they once protected – which could include combs, glass drinking-vessels, inkwells, mirrors, waxed tablets -- even a nef.

(See also these photos for more details of cases and coffers at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.)

See also the linkspages on leather boxes and penners.

• Case for the crown of the King of Sweden, early 14th century
• Case for a bottle, 14th century Byzantium
• Case, 14th century Italy
• Case for an ivory writing-tablet, 14th century
• Writing tablet and leather case, imported into London c. 1300-1390
• A case, possibly for a book, made in Italy in the 14th century; “Decoration front and back is embossed, modelled, tooled and stamped; foliate scrolls, human figures and coats of arms: Aldobrandini; crest.”
• Case with Tristan and Isolde, for a set of ivory writing-tablets, made in Paris c. 1341-1360
• The case for the Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire, made after 1350. The Kunsthistoriches Museum describes this particular case:

  “Leather cases exactly fitted to the objects they were designed to hold were made to store the imperial regalia and also to protect them while they were being transported to royal and imperial coronations in Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) or Rome as well as the annually staged public presentations that were held starting in 1350, the Feast of the Holy Lance and Nails. Leather lent itself to the manufacture of such cases because of its flexibility of form and material toughness as well as the varied possibilities it offered for decoration.
  The cases for the Imperial Crown and Ceremonial Sword have been preserved from the time of Emperor Charles IV. The decoration of the case of the Imperial Crown consists of framed panels of foliate tendrils and mythological beasts. The individual pieces of leather of which the case if sewn correspond to the panels into which the decoration is divided. Fastened to the lower part of the case by iron straps, the lid bears on its top the imperial arms with a black eagle on a yellow ground as well as the Bohemian arms with a white lion rampant on a red ground. On the side are loops through which a carrying strap could be drawn. Traditional forms of leather carving and blind-stamping were the techniques used for the decoration. The beaded ground provides an effective contrast to the smooth decorations of tendrils and animals. Like the rows of small ornaments along the framing bands and in the bodies of the animals, this pattern was embossed with small metal punches. The colours of the case were originally stronger, with an effective contrast of red and green supporting the structure provided by the framing bands of the surface and making the fabulous creatures and leaf motifs appear in greater contrast.”

• Case for a set of six ivory writing-tablets, France, late 14th century
• A case for a folding-spoon (lower left) and a needle-case (lower right) from the Hermann von Goch nachlaß, c. 1398
• A medieval case (probably a penner)
• A hexagonal case made to contain the Royal Gold Cup, made in France in the 14th-15th century. “Case of wood and leather; hexagonal; iron mounts including lock decorated with trefoils, and twisted metal handle; incised and stamped decoration on leather consists of foliate motifs and an inscription ['YHE.SUS.O.MARYA.O.MARYA YHE SUS'].”
• A case, possibly for a book, made in Italy or France in the 14th or 15th century; “Book case or satchel of leather; moulded; rectangular with two loops on each side for straps; decoration stamped, incised and painted: shields of arms; foliate; monsters and mermaids; initials.”
• A case, possibly made to hold writing tools, Italy, c. 1450-1500; inscription reads 'In good faith, I love you with a true heart'
• Case for a scientific instrument, perhaps an astrolabe or clock, 15th century Italy
• Case for a comb, inscribed with the words DE BOEN AMORE ('with good love'), made in 15th century Italy
• Pen case, made in 15th century Italy
• A case for a prayerbook, Italy, c. 1450-1500
• Pyx, 15th century Italy
• Document case with the inscription DECRETI TECA ('case for decrees') and the arms of Bentivoglio of Bologna, possibly used by the official messenger of Antonio Galeazzo Bentivoglio, Archdeacon of Bologna, made in Italy c. 1475-1525
• Case for a spoon, 15th century
• Case for a spoon, 15th century. “Case of moulded leather, for spoon which unscrews into three pieces; incised, stamped and painted decoration of foliage and birds, and an inscription ['AVE MARIA'].“
• Round case, 15th century Italy
• Case (also here), 15th century Italy
• Case for an inkwell, 15th century Italy
• Case for an inkwell, 15th century Italy
• Dome-topped case (perhaps for an inkwell?), 15th century Italy
• A case that served as an inkwell, 15th century Italy
• A case for a touchstone, 15th century Italy
• A case inscribed BON ♥ AVES on the front and with guimbardes (mouth-harps) on the back, made in the Netherlands or France in the 15th century
• Case for the Wiener Musterbuchs, Bohemia, first quarter of the 15th century
• Case for a lamp (originally for a kiddush cup?), Germany, c. 1412-1423
• Ink pot, c. 1425-1450
• Case for a cross, from Jerusalemkerk in Brugge, c. 1435
• Case for a beaker, 15th century France
• Case for a cup, France, 15th century
• Incense-nef and its case, Venice, 15th century
• Case for a book, France?, 15th century
• Case for a book, France, 15th century
• Document case with the arms of the bishopric of Langres, France, 15th century
• Case for a missal or prayerbook with the arms of Châtillon impaling Vergy on the front, c. 1450
• Case for a cup made in 15th century France; includes an inscription ('drink to all')
• Case for a glass beaker, 15th century Germany
• Case for an enamelled glass beaker, 15th century Germany
• Case for an enamelled glass beaker, 15th century Germany
• Case for a glass beaker (also here), Germany in the second half of the 15th century
• Case for St. Elizabeth's beaker, Germany, 15th-16th century
• Case for an orb (also here), Nuremburg, 1457
• Case for the crown of Margaret of York, 1475
• A case made for Pierre Sala's Petit Livre d'Amour (British Library MS Stowe 955), c. 1500
• Case for a nef, Nuremburg, c. 1503 (also here)
• Detail (a spectacle-case) in Jesus in the Temple, c. 1505-1515
• A case for knives and related implements, perhaps Austrian, early 16th century
• Red leather tubular container (see also back), Sforza, 16th century
• Pen case made in Italy c. 1500-1520
• Dome-topped case (perhaps for an inkwell?), Italy, 16th century
• A case for a group of recorders or flutes, made in 16th century Italy
• Leather case, Italy, 16th century
• A case with heraldic decorations made in 16th century Germany
• Cylindrical case or box, Italy c. 1550
• Clock case, possibly made in Paris c. 1550-1560
• A case for a brass instrument which “contains a sundial engraved on the arms and crossbars of a pair of dividers, which has a (now incomplete) compass fitted on the hinge,” made in Augsburg in 1558
• A case for an ivory diptych sundial made in Nuremburg, inscribed '1562'
• Cases for touchstones, 1571
• Case for a gunner’s sight and level, possibly made in Augsburg in the late 16th century
• A case for an astronomical instrument with a sundial and moondial possibly made in France in the late 16th century
• A case for a set of waxed tablets, Germany, beginning of the 17th century
• A case for an arithmetical jewel made in England in 1616