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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Shangas, post: 9964353, member: 360&quot;]The prices of writing slopes / cases / boxes depends on many things. </p><p><br /></p><p>First of course, is condition. If it&#039;s in fantastic condition, it&#039;ll be worth almost whatever somebody wants to charge. </p><p><br /></p><p>Next is size, materials, how complex the box is, etc. How many compartments it has, what arrangement they&#039;re in, and so on. </p><p><br /></p><p>Then there&#039;s stuff like accessories. </p><p><br /></p><p>How many inkwells? Does it come with its own equipment? </p><p><br /></p><p>Some boxes - the REALLY elaborate ones - have all kinds of stuff inside them. Cashboxes, inkwells, matchboxes, pens, pencils, paper-knives, rulers, bone-folders...the list goes on and on and on. </p><p><br /></p><p>Others will just have an inkwell or two, and...that&#039;s it - it&#039;s your job to fill up the rest! </p><p><br /></p><p>A box that&#039;s worth $1,000, $2,000+, is one which has its original keys, original inkwells and accessories, which is in *fantastic* cosmetic and operational condition, with no major, functionality flaws. </p><p><br /></p><p>That said, I have seen people selling writing boxes with literally half the box missing, and nothing inside it - for $500. I&#039;ve seen people trying to sell half-empty ones for $1,500. And I&#039;ve also picked up some boxes for as little as $50. So prices jump all over the place, up and down the wall. </p><p><br /></p><p>The name of the maker doesn&#039;t necessarily mean anything, unless it&#039;s a BIG name that everybody&#039;s likely to recognise, like Mappin &amp; Webb, or Toulmin &amp; Gale, so on, so on. </p><p><br /></p><p>Writing cases were the Victorian equivalent to your laptop computer - everybody who had any kind of office job was likely to have one, so there were lots of them around. </p><p><br /></p><p>Then in the 1910s, 20s, 30s, 40s, fountain pens showed up, and suddenly typewriters were available, and as a result, they basically became obsolete overnight. People kept the bits which were important - inkwells, pens, pencils, paper-knives, letter-openers and such...and then just threw out the box. It&#039;s why you find so many of them these days with NOTHING in them - because anything that was useful was taken out 100 years ago when grandpa decided he didn&#039;t need it anymore.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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