I paid a fair bit for this one, and will be very glad to keep it for myself--I simply could not resist that yellow, or that blue, and even more so the two of them together. (I have not at all amped up the color here.) Unusual in my experience to find one with decoupage elements on the exterior, too, which I find very charming--this is American, c. 1840s I believe (with a stars and stripes shield at the center and en eagle too) but someone was also dreaming of Paris! In addition to the aesthetics of them, and the fact that it was largely women who made them--this one clearly made at home by an "amateur" for her own use; I find wallpaper band boxes, constructed of nothing more than cardboard and paper, quite remarkable simply in having endured.
11 1/2" x 9 3/4" x 4 1/4" t. Photos give a good sense all the way around. There is more wear along the right edge of the top where it meets the rim, with some old reinforcement stitches there, and a little loss along the top edge of the blue band paper there. This corresponds to some irregularity to the lower half of the box, visible when the lid is removed, as documented. Stable and sound and not especially fragile, though one wants to take a little care with it.
You might also like
