Hey folks, first post for me here. Not sure if this would be the right forum (maybe tribal?). At any rate, I picked this up at auction some time ago (I've got a number of pieces I'll be sharing over time). Spanish colonial style, hand tooled and embossed leather petaca (document box) with hand forged iron hasp, strap hinges, lock-plate. Box is 8" x 5½" x 5½". So as my post says, original or repro? The few I've seen around the net listed as original pieces seem similar, but there's that gut feeling that tells me it's a reproduction. So, what do you think?
It's just my opinion, but I doubt the leather on this to be very old. The hand forged clasp screams 1980s to me, generic hinges appear not to have been made especially for this box.
It is lovely. Probably made fairly recently in Peru. These recent Peruvian leather boxes are always 'antiqued', but if you look at the wood on the inside you can see it is not truly antique. And @antidiem raises valid points. These sell for nice prices, but nowhere near those for a true antique.
Antidiem, Any Jewelry, thank you for your responses, very much appreciated, it confirms my suspicions. I had read about the Peruvian boxes on another forum, but wanted to be absolutely sure about mine.
