This is a real sweetheart of a bandbox. Medium sized wood box with tacked construction. The sides are covered with wallpaper that has a white background, blue & teal bow and ribbon edged with a grey & white lace pattern. The bottom edge has a black & white design reminiscent of an upside-down valance. The paper appears to have been pieced to create the overall pleasant look. The top of the box is edged with the lace patterned paper. The very top of the box has little of the blue & white paper left but the paper has worn so beautifully that one only gets the sense that the top matches the grey of the edging paper. The box is lined with various newspapers dating 1847 and 1848 and mentioning New York, Boston and Ohio. Remember that bandbox makers used newspapers saved by pretty much everyone they knew so dates can only mean the box was made no earlier than that date and it is common to find papers from different places in a single box. Inside the top cover is an interesting report on inside top cover about dissension in the Whig party and President Polk usurping his Executive authority (shades of today’s political climate!). Also the inside top cover is signed in iron gall ink by “Jane G. Harwood”—probably the original owner. 10” x 8” x 6 ¼” tall. Circa 1850.

#5944    Sold

Provenance: Longtime Texas Collection
Reference: Carlisle, Lilian Baker, Hat Boxes and Bandboxes at Shelburne Museum, Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, Vermont, 1960.