Relief-carved and Painted Tobacco Box, America, 1892, rectangular
box with lift-top relief-carved with Gothic arches around central round
blossom, the sides relief-carved with bellflower stems, pipes, and
flowers on arrows, and one side with assorted polychrome painted
vessels and mugs and a verse inscribed “I judge the best, whate’er
befall,.../Is still to sit on one’s behind/And having duly moistened all/
Smoke with an unperturbed mind,” the bottom inscribed “W.L.T. -1892-
his box,” the interior containing an envelope with typed message: “And
he left me the beautifully carved tobacco-box which he made himself.
I shall pass it down to Theodore and, I hope, to Theodore Chadwick,
Jr.,” ht. 3 7/8, wd. 4 5/8, lg. 6 1/2 in.
$300-500
Painted Book-form Folding Game Board, America, 19th century, the
exterior painted with red, green, and yellow leaf and linear borders on a
tan ground, the interior painted with a backgammon game in green and
black on a salmon-colored ground, (shrinkage cracks, paint wear), 19 x
9 3/4 in., folded.
$600-800
Small Paint-decorated Dome-top Box, attributed to Heinrich Bucher,
Lancaster and Berks County, Pennsylvania, c. 1800, the rectangular
box with cut nail and glue construction with leather hinges, the top,
sides, and front decorated with freehand polychrome-painted flowers,
leaves, and scallops, also a small dwelling on the front, on a black
ground, (minor paint losses), ht. 5 1/4, wd. 9 3/8, dp. 5 1/2 in.
Note: See The Folk Tradition: Early Arts and Crafts of the Susquehanna
Valley, compiled by Richard I. Barons, Robertson Center, Binghamton,
New York, 1981, pp. 152-3. Similarly decorated boxes have
traditionally been attributed to the maker of boxes signed “H. Bucher”
which were found in Lancaster and Berks County, Pennsylvania. Two
boxes with similar decoration are in the collection at the Henry Francis
Dupont Winterthur Museum and one in the Pennsylvania German
Collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
$800-1,200
290.
Two Small Decorated Dome-top Boxes, America, early 19th century,
rectangular boxes, one with wire lid handle and hinges and iron latch
painted blue with yellow striped borders, decorated on the lid and
front with painted flowers; the other with tin and wire latch and hinges
decorated with applied panels of floral printed wallpaper, (wear), ht. 5
3/4, 5 1/8, wd. both 9 1/4, dp. 5 1/8, 5 3/4 in., respectively.
$400-600291.
Putty-painted Dome-top Box, America, early 19th century, rectangular
pine box with dovetail construction, brass swing handle on lid, and iron
latch, (imperfections), ht. 7 1/2, wd. 16, dp. 8 in.
$300-500292.
Paint-decorated Pine Dome-top Trunk, probably New England, early
19th century, nail-constructed box with wire hinged lid, painted dark red
with wavy black lines and dashes, (loss on latch, minor paint wear), ht.
7 1/4, wd. 16 1/4, dp. 8 3/4 in.
$300-500293.
Paint-decorated Pine Trinket Box, America, 19th century, rectangular
dovetail-constructed box with hinged overhanging lid, molded base,
the top centered with carved diamond-shaped plate inscribed “F.C.L.”
surrounded by a red-painted border on a simulated bird’s-eye maple
ground, (minor paint loss), ht. 3 1/2, wd. 8 3/4, dp. 5 3/4 in.
$300-500294.
Red-painted Pine Pipe Box, probably New England, early 19th
century, with pierced top for pipe stems, lower single drawer, ht. 19
3/4, wd. 5 7/8, dp. 4 1/2 in.
$400-60074 additional information and photos at http://www.skinnerinc.com