Beautiful Antique Carved Heart Shaped Box, Ex. "Smitty" Axtell Collection memorial badge with 1868 and 1871 patent

with 1868 and 1871 patent dates

7 3/8" tall

but due to a split along one edge a couple of tiny nails were added as reinforcement

red lettering

Beautiful Antique Carved Heart Shaped Box, Ex. "Smitty" Axtell Collection memorial badge with 1868 and 1871 patentI know this beautiful little carved box came from the collection of Richard Smitty Axtell (Skinner recently held an auction of many pieces from his collection in "Smitty's Eye: The Axtell Collection") of Deposit, New York, whose collection focused on American antiques especially burl and other woodenware. This looks like burl to me, and beautifully carved, with bat wing like points to the heart on the exterior, but then a rounded heart carved out