An English barrister’s wig of woven horse hair in original tole box with lock and key, circa 1850-1890, featuring a barrister’s wig with accompanying riser, in a fitted black tole box with gold accents and brass swan handle, the exterior marked 'R. Bullin, Esq.', the interior marked “Ravenscroft Law, Wig & Robe Makers, Lincolns Inn, London.

Barristers and judges started wearing wigs as court dress, circa 1680.
For 150 years, the legal wig was usually of powdered white or grey hair.

In 1822, Humphrey Ravenscroft invented a legal wig made of whitish-grey horsehair that did not need frizzing, curling, perfuming or powdering.

Wig underside with label that reads: Patentee. Ravenscroft. Lincolns Inn Fields.