Early, Beautifully Detailed Carved Out Slide Lid Box homemade book I'm completely smitten with them

I'm completely smitten with them

but it looks like the nails were removed at some point at the strips were glued (though there is no glue showing

was finished with a hardened varnish or shellac and bears a great rich patina

I at least find animals with a few wounds all the more empathetic

Early, Beautifully Detailed Carved Out Slide Lid Box homemade book I'm completely smitten with themThis is quite an old box, I believe earlyish 19th c. if not older, and quite a wonderful one I think, carved out from one piece of wood, with a great deal of effort invested in decorative carving on the long sides cross hatching on one and a more complex pattern of chip carving on the other. I love the raised pull end of the slide lid, which looks rather like a pillow at the head of a bed, with a piece of iron stretched over the top looking rather