MOTHER, Extra Folky Old Match Stick Tramp Art Box with Polka Dot Interior and Rich Patina

There are neat and crisp match stick boxes and then there are soulful old folk art boxes constructed of matchsticks, and this is very much the latter. I know match sticks creations were often made in prisons, though not exclusively--this one, with cross at center and dedicated to MOTHER, has the feeling of prison art to me, but I don't know for sure. An old one and a very folky one whatever the case, with those flowers to either side of the the T in Mother just completely the right embellishments, all the better for being rendered in tar-like black. (It almost looks like those letters and flowers and diagonal lines were rendered in ash/soot collected from burning the matchsticks then varnished over???) With interior lined in the best polka dotted cotton fabric too. Teeming with warmth and character. 

9 3/8" x 6 1/4" x 3 3/16" t. Good, warm, loved condition. It does not appear there were ever a hinge connecting the lid, but I am not completely sure; now it lays flat on top, fitting just right in the recessed edges as constructed.