Featured Information about this antique box

Hello everyone, I recently acquired an antique wooden box. I was told it was a "ship captains" box or something like that. It is wood with all brass hinges, knobs, and decorations. It has a compartment in lid that drops down. You can turn the center knob in the bottom compartment to release it. Under the bottom compartment, there is a false bottom (you can see the hinges in the pic). To open this, you take two screws out of one of the feet and turn the foot to open the latch.

It seems to be pretty old, and everything works except the main latch for the box. I think it's a very interesting piece and was curious is anyone would know how old it might be. From what I understand a lot of these were custom made. I suppose assigning a value would be difficult, although I'm mainly curious about how old it is and what kind of things might have been stored in it. There are no identifying markings of ANY kind. Hopefully the pictures will shed some light on this mysterious little box. Thank you in advance for any information you might provide!

 

Welcome!
WOW!
~
Related to Dolly are you?

 

Hi,
Really nice writing box with hidden compartment. Do not think it was a ships captains box. That brass would have been destroyed by the sea air. Now if it was bronze then I might rethink. Where is Shantas sp(?). He would be able to tell you more about it.
greg

 

Shangas

 

@Shangas is about to wake up I think. He is in 'The Land Down Under'.

 

Well kiss my wallaby!
Who knew.

 

Did the name give it away? Lol. I'm her first cousin. I replied earlier but I think the forum ate it..

 

My area of specialisation is antique writing equipment and accessories. I'm not sure what use I'm gonna be here.

Brass fittings were actually extremely common on ships. Brass is copper, and zinc. Neither of which rust. Which is why they were so popular. Brass lamps, brass telescopes, brass fittings on the ship's wheels, brass binnacles and compasses...

So could it be something that was on a ship? Probably. I don't say it is, but I don't see why not, either.

I have no idea what something like this would've stored.

If we assume that it's nautical, then I have seen cases for:

Telescopes.
Compasses.
Sextants.

But none of those fit the shape.

I reckon this was a custom commissioned piece. Although what it was meant to store, I have no idea. I don't see anything that would immediately give away its purpose.

 

nice box !!

 

I'm not an expert, but I get the feeling this is a mid-20th century piece. The plate on the top (I think) would've been inletted in an older piece, not on the surface and held on by nuts, and the sheet metal fittings that hold the wire racks in place in the lid compartment just don't seem "old" to me. Also, the wood finish bothers me. Maybe it is an older piece, and I'm mistaken. I look forward to more answers.

It's certainly nice, though, whatever it is.

 

Ha!!!!
Oh well that's cool!
Met her briefly once when I was a stage hand in Vegas.
Say Hi! for me!

 

I was assuming it was something in the lap desk/writing slope/portable secretary family, but like you, can't see how it would have been used in that way: compartments wrong shapes/sizes for pens, ink bottles, blotters or any of the things necessary for doing correspondence other than a compartment that could hold writing tablets or stationery. I see no way to create a writing surface with it. Definitely meant to be part of a gentleman's traveling gear. Hidden compartment suggests need to protect military or business secrets. The moving parts seem to have fittings to hold them in place more securely than usually seen with ordinary writing slopes. Whole thing seems very well made & wood is beautiful. Surprised the plate on the lid was never engraved; think it would have been if purpose-built for a specific individual. But what in the world is the purpose of those fold out metal grills that look like cooling racks for baked goods?

Craig, how does the knob in the middle of the bottom part release the compartment with the racks in the lid? Isn't that what the smaller knob on that side is for? Aren't the large knob in the bottom & the plate around it blocking the lid on the little compartment? I feel there may yet be more to this box still to be discovered.

 

By the way Craig, welcome to the forum.
Beautiful box, well made.
I know nothing about captain's boxes, but here is just a thought. The wire racks are meant to keep something in place when it is stored inside the lid. Probably something that can vary in size or vary from one side to another, otherwise there would just have been another wooden board.
Assuming this is a captain's box, could it have been a compartment for a captain's log, which he kept stored open, to resume his notes whenever he had time again? Maybe with some kind of blotting paper in between the pages and the rack?
Obviously he would take the logbook out to write, the edges of the box would have been in the way otherwise. But for someone with little time, open page storage could be useful.

 

I like the idea that the grilles could hold open a log book, not only for the convenience of easily finding the place to resume making entries, also because it would allow you to put it away safely before the ink on the page was completely dry, especially good if you had to leave off writing abruptly. When the box is closed, an open book would stay face up. Looks like the lid is restrained from opening much beyond 90 degrees, so an open book with damp ink on the pages could not inadvertently get flipped onto its face. But even a ship's captain needs ink & pens. The box is not well designed to be a portable office.

http://www.icollector.com/Antique-Whaling-Ship-Captain-s-Desk-w-Log_i22453693

The lion's paw feet do not seem well suited to keeping the box in place on a surface that might pitch & yaw. It is strongly made, as if to carry heavy contents, yet does not appear to have handles on the sides, something I have seen on writing slopes described as being made for military commanders.

It's a beautiful box. What the heck was it made for?

 

This is certainly not a writing box. I've seen more than enough of almost every kind of writing and stationery box than you can imagine, to know that.

Bronwen, the type of handles you describe (brass, that fold flat) are called CAMPAIGN HANDLES. They're designed to be sunk into the box, so that several boxes/cases/trunks could be stacked on top of each other, and strapped down, without rattling and swaying back and forth on the roof of a carriage, etc.

It's a fascinating box, but somehow, I don't think it's a writing box of any description.

No doubt, a writing box WOULD have been used by a captain or officer on a vessel 100, 200 years ago - space was precious and desks are heavy liabilities. But I think this has some other purpose.

 

How about sort of a strong box with a place to store a payroll ledger? Look at the thickness of the wood, the strength of the hinges, compartments that might be used for coins and bank notes. I would still like to know what the knob in the center does & how one opens the lidded compartment.

 

Isn't something like that called a PAYMASTER'S CHEST?

As in, a chest to store the account/pay-books, gold, silver, notes, coins, etc...?

Maybe that makes more sense? I dunno.

 

It definitely provided security for something. There is no obvious scratching or scuffing to the interior (almost wonder if this was ever actively used), nothing to suggest anything heavy & metal was stored in it. Also think it was meant to be movable but not really portable. Can imagine an estate manager paying the staff out of it.

 

And here is silly me, thinking cigars........................a selection of different sized cigars.......for the connoisseur, don't ya know............

 

reminds me of a vintage humidor....