Reticulated Oval Whale Bone Ditty box with Marquetry Wood Top, American circa 1870
InformationExtremely 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
Circa 1870
