Featured Cheap Mid-Eastern Box

I love these little things.They're generally cheap and there's a million of 'em.This one was $7.99 & prob made '50 thru the 90's,size-7 1/2" by 5 1/2".
Not even sure what they are actually called.This is the only one I've got now,got it because i liked the tones in the MOP.
There's a few examples on this forum of actual precious antique ones-the marquetry is unbelievably tiny,elaborate & fine.
You'll find a few sellers listing these newer ones for $50-into the hundreds,these sellers are deluded.
PS-Wish the mid-eastern carpets were cheaper !

 

Yup...some of them were made as 'puzzle boxes; several cleverly disguised sliding panels that must be moved in a fixed sequence to open an interior 'secret chamber'.

 

The memory of Asian puzzle boxes takes me back . Once or twice a year our parents would take us to Chinatown in San Francisco-what a wonder ! In the 50's they still had ducks hanging in the windows and real ivory carvings on display,pearls,puzzle boxes,and real Chinese food-that smelled way better than the Fair food (and we loved deep-fried fair food !).
The most glorious thing of all-I was in 1950's San Francisco with 'dressed-to-the nines' Frisco folks and surrounded by authentic (and exotic) actual Chinese people !

 

So do I. I still have a similar box that my father brought back from a business trip to Syria in the 60s.