I've got a real soft spot for inlaid folk art wooden boxes like this one, which, like the best tramp art, embody a combination of skill, individual creativity and lots of patient labor, with the dates on either short end of this one suggesting it took three years to finish! A hundred plus years later it remains in beautiful condition, with just the tiniest bit of loss: two super thin vertical strips at the front corners, super minor, and the wood and finish remains in excellent condition. A perfect box for all sorts of souvenirs indeed, with its long narrow form especially perfect for filling with old snapshots, postcards and/or letters.
14 inches long, 5" tall, 4 1/2" deep; heavy and very substantial and really lovingly made. The lid is not (was never) hinged; it lifts all the way off.
