Leather box
Probably United States
1790-1825
Measurements
3-3/4 in x 10-5/8 in x 5-3/4 in
Materials
Animal hide, leather, brass, white cedar or white pine, printed paper and newsprint (liners)
Credit Line
Historic Odessa Foundation, gift of H. Rodney Sharp
Accession Number
1959.3738
Condition Notes
A few brass tack heads are missing. A strip of leather that served as the hinge for the lid is missing from across the back of the box.
Provenance
Ex coll. H. Rodney Sharp
Comments
This small leather box lies within the tradition of many leather-covered boxes with locking lids made throughout the 18th century and into the 19th century. This box is among the smallest. Because of its small size, the leather forming the lid is not attached to a wood underlayment but takes its shape from being tacked to the end boards. The lid has a characteristic brass drawer pull mounted in the center. It attaches by thin brass straps that wrap around the ends of the bails, pass through the leather, and are spread in opposite directions, like a cotter pin. A brass escutcheon surrounding the keyhole in front is of an unusual shape. Made of sheet brass, it may have been cut for this particular use. The uneven nailing of the brass tacks may be another indicator that this box was not made by a specialist, as could readily be found in urban environments, but by a handy and talented fabricator nonetheless.
The inside of the box is lined with English newsprint that has been covered with modern paper. Newsprint or unused printed book pages typically lined such boxes. Newspapers printed in England were available in the United States and are not necessary indicators of fabrication in England. The likely American origin of this box rests upon accurate visual identification of the bottom board as white pine, which is probable but not certain.
