"Accouterment" Box

[skillman]

A lot of candles were dipped.

Steve

[Majorjoel]

It looks like the box that George Washington kept on his bedside night stand to store his false teeth.    Another gift to our founding father made by J. P. Beck.    Seriously, it would be good to know the type of wood it is made of. If the inlays are bone, and if there is any kind of "residue" left on the inside cavity like old wax. The answers to these questions will give some idea's to where, when, and what for, but the mystery will probably always remain.  It is a beautiful box you have there Hurricane! I am jealous!   Now getting back to what it could be......an early 18th century funeral directors "salesman's sample" ......awhhhh.....too much Road Show

[Hurricane ( of Virginia)]

Tis Walnut. I found it in the neighborhood.. actually picked it up from the next door  neighbors house on visit ( coincidentally,  I live next door to Mount Vernon
Hurricane

[Majorjoel]

Just an afterthought here. Fancy boxes have been used for centuries to house important items and family heirlooms. This one is made to sit on a table top or desk top. I know that they used feathers or quills for writing. It could have held them or even important keys.  I guess the sky's the limit here.

[Hurricane ( of Virginia)]

I had another thought....thank you for yours. As it is quite similar to a sliding wooden patch box, I though I would acquire the next J.P. Beck barrel and mount it to the Box ( butt stock), "restore the forearm  and I would have a very fine "Beck", not so cheap though?

[Majorjoel]

Yes Fred, right from the pages of Capt. Dillin,s 1924 book which is continuing in another interesting discussion around here!

[Shreckmeister]

My great aunt had a rectangular box like that the lid would open on a hinge it was very old she stored her incense in it and would stand one in the hole and light it. when i saw your box i could smell it again from fifty years ago!! thanks oh! IJMO on it  Chubby

     Carved boxes with inlays and sliding lids are very popular tourist items in India.  I saw many of them years ago in my travels.  You might not be far off with the incense burning idea.  If this turns out to be rosewood I would think it's from that region.  It has the right color.  We brought back some tables and trunks that were done in similar fashion.
A telltale sign is if the inletting is somewhat crude and filler is used to get the fit right.

[brooktrout]

HUMMMM.....sniff---sniff.  What's it smell like inside?  And "residue" of any kind?  Generally, the way it is decorated and specifically the lines on the "white" decorations just don't look like "American".  Tons of stuff coming out of India and other countries made to look old.  Amazing how they can "age" something. Novel for sure but "gun related" and "old"?  Don't know about that.

[Hurricane ( of Virginia)]

The box arrived!!!!!!!!!!! It is solid walnut. The bone is inlet correctly, with an occasional 0.005 mm gap around a small area of the circumeference of  a few bone inlays. Most, really all, are correctly and tightly inlet.  No filling!!   The inside as you can imagine is chipped or scraped with drill curfs at corner and ends ( much like a patchbox. . Most amazing is the "well." It is an upside down cone....not for candles as they would fall over to a 45 degree angle, it was original drilled then expaned below the surface to almost twice the daimeter of the whole, not exactly symmetricall. . Now what do you think? I will post fine detail pictures this weekend.
Hurricane.

[Shreckmeister]

I think I would have liked to buy it myself. I did some google image searches to find something similar and came up empty. Very nice

[Ky-Flinter]

Not that it helps identify what the box is for, but this inlay looks to me like a cross-section cut of deer antler.



-Ron

[Hurricane ( of Virginia)]

We will get a DNA analysis of the bone...willl take some time. It is bone however and the bone spickles ( cross section) can be seen in the center of each piece ( marrow). Does an antler have blood flow??
Doc ( Hurricane)

[Bill Paton]

Hurricane,  Antlers have cancellous bone in their centers like the bone on your box. Different sections of antler and different species have thicker or thinner cortexes. The "heart" inlay especially seems to have very thick cortical bone. I am guessing antler as the source, since long bones with cortex that thick tend to have no cancellous bone in the sections of the shafts with such thick cortex. Could be American, European,  Asian, or even African animals, I suppose. Want to bring it to KRA and let us have a look?  You certainly have a lot of folks offering opinions on a challenging item! I like the idea of DNA analysis. Sounds like you have a friend in a sophisticated lab.  See you "on Mars" at the KRA.  Bill

[Hurricane ( of Virginia)]

Appreciate orthopedic opinion...better than a Pediatric one....wish I remembered all that microanatomy! It will come to Mars for a consultation. Hope you take "my insurance."     Its Medicare!
Hurricane

[George Sutton]

I think it's Scandinavian.

Centershot

[Kermit]

Wood species ID is problematic. A good read on the topic:

http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/research/centers/woodanatomy/wood_idfactsheet.php

[brooktrout]

Interesting read on wood identification.  I have been working with wood since a wee lad.  Thought I was pretty good at being able to determine of what wood an item was made.  Real life took me out of the loop for many years and now that I am getting back to it I find my expertise seriously flawed.  I have a couple of super informed experts locally and typically there is frequent disagreement amongst us.  Visit a "Wood Crafter's" store and be amazed!

[Kermit]

When in my 20's I worked in a cabinet shop where all the "birch" was western red alder and the "oak" was ash. The owner used those species because of how they took stains, and labeled them for what the market expected. I've been in groups trying to identify a wood where there were more ideas of what it was than there were folks examining the item. I saw a guitar labeled mahogany that I'm sure was sapele. I have a uke that the seller claimed was koa that I'm pretty sure is an acacia from Oz or SE Asia--and sounds terrific. It's a fun game with few winners.