Extremely fine Reticulated oval whale bone ditty box with marquetry wood top, American circa 1870.The top of the box has a thick wood top with a vey wavy grain. The four sides of the oval have a light bird’s eye maple veneer. The center diamond shape has wood without the veneered sides and the same wavy grain shows on the bottom of the lid. There is a small oval piece of bird’s eye maple inlaid at the center of the bottom of the basket top. There is a grid of thin black inlaid black wood forming a checkered design on the top of the basket top, each of the four corners has a light wood inlaid “tic-tac-toe” pattern. The center has an inlaid Maple square with black border inlay with a small tortoise shell inlay with small abalone inlaid corners. The middle four boxes are natural wave patterned wood The top has a whale bone lip with a height of one inch. The bone is steam fitted around the oval top and is joined with a saw tooth jagged edge which is metal pinned at the bone overlap. The base of the basket has a wood bottom which was steamed fit the whalebone basket sides with a height of 2 5/8 inches. The perimeter of the bone has a very fine interlocking circle pattern. Above and below the circles is a small fan like piercing in the bone which adds to the look of the overall design. The whale bone sides of the basket have about a 1 ½ inch overlap and there are two rows of five metal pins fastening the bone sides together. (SC1263)
Condition: The box is in excellent condition and has a mellow age patina. There is a tiny bone loss on the right hand side of the pinned juncture of the top and a slight loss at the corner of the joint of the top.
Dimensions: Length 9 1/8, Width 1 1/16, 3 1/4, Inches