{"product_id":"american-red-cedar-keepsake-box-black-paint-and-brass-strapwork-c-1930-1950","title":"American Red Cedar Keepsake Box, Black Paint and Brass Strapwork, c. 1930–1950","description":"\u003ch3\u003eThe Piece\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA small American box of aromatic red cedar, built in the plain way of the Southern cedar shops between the wars and dressed in a later life with matte black paint and brass strapwork, so that it now reads as a little strongbox or treasure chest. The form is a low rectangle on bracket feet cut into the ends of the side boards, with a flat overhanging lid on two brass butterfly hinges. Across the lid run two long brass straps, each shaped to a rounded tab at the ends and set with five domed copper-headed nails; two shield-shaped brass plates with a single dome nail sit on the front flanks, a shaped brass hasp with a pierced Gothic tail and a wire ring drops over a staple at the center, and the whole of the brass has the mottled, acid-darkened patina that makes it read as old iron from across the room. The black is thin and matte, rubbed through to the pale wood at the edges and corners, and it sets the brass off well.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOpen the lid and the box declares itself. The inside is bare eastern red cedar, the Tennessee aromatic cedar with its streaks of red heartwood and cream sapwood, its small tight knots and its unmistakable scent, which is still strong. The walls are single boards butt-jointed at the corners, the bottom is two boards, and the lid is a single wide plank with a shallow lip. On the inside lip the filled mortise of an earlier set of butt hinges shows that the present surface-mounted hinges and the strapwork are a later dressing, and that the box began life as one of the plain cedar souvenir and keepsake boxes that the cedar mills sold by the thousand.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe box is sound and square, the lid closes flat, the hinges and hasp are tight and the straps are firmly nailed. Inside there is a small filled patch to one corner of the floor, a few drips of red wax, and the stains and marks of a box that was used. Outside the black shows light scratches and edge wear and the brass has the darkened finish it was given. Nothing is loose and nothing is missing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eHistory \u0026amp; Provenance\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEastern red cedar was the wood of the American keepsake box for half a century. The cedar mills of Tennessee, Kentucky and the Carolinas turned the offcuts of the big chest trade into small boxes for gloves, handkerchiefs, letters and jewelry, sold plain or with a souvenir decal on the lid at every roadside stand and gift shop from the Smokies to the Ozarks, and the aromatic wood kept moths out of whatever was put inside. Most were used until they fell apart. Some were given a second life in the 1960s and 1970s, when painting a plain box black and nailing on brass straps, studs and a hasp from the craft store turned it into a treasure chest for a child's room, a den or a bar, and the better examples of that treatment, like this one, were done with care, with the straps cut to shape, the nails set evenly and the brass antiqued to match.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNo maker's mark is present and the box is offered as an unattributed American cedar box with later decoration. The dating rests on the materials and the construction rather than style alone: the aromatic red cedar, the butt-jointed boards and cut bracket feet, and the filled hinge mortise are all consistent with a box made between about 1930 and 1950, and the surface-mounted butterfly hinges, pressed brass hasp, strapwork and black paint with a later campaign of about 1960 to 1980.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eProduct Details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ctable\u003e\u003ctbody\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eType\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eKeepsake box with hinged lid, strongbox form\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eOrigin\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eUnited States, unattributed\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eDate\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBox c. 1930–1950; paint and brass strapwork c. 1960–1980\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMaterial\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eAromatic eastern red cedar, matte black paint, sheet brass straps and plates, copper-headed dome nails, brass hasp and butterfly hinges\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eInterior\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBare cedar, unlined, scent still strong\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eCondition\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eSound and square; lid closes flat; hardware tight; small filled patch and wax drips to the interior floor; light scratches and edge wear to the paint\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eDimensions\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMeasurements on request\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eAvailability\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e1 Available\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/tbody\u003e\u003c\/table\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhy It Belongs in Your Home\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is the box for the things that matter and the things that need a lid: letters, photographs, a watch collection, the remote controls, the good playing cards, a child's treasures. The black and brass give it the presence of a strongbox on a desk, a console, a bookshelf or a bedside table, and the cedar inside keeps whatever it holds fresh. It sits with leather, dark wood and iron in a study or a den, and against a pale wall or a painted dresser it is a strong dark accent with a glint of metal. For a shop or designer client it is the sound, characterful, ready-to-style box that anchors a masculine vignette and sells on the smell of the cedar alone.\u003c\/p\u003e\n","brand":"Viridian Eclection","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":68003757916265,"sku":"VE-1861","price":440.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/0093\/9369\/files\/01_585f0761-77a7-4de3-8621-9357547e0e28.jpg?v=1794124749","url":"https:\/\/viridianeclection.com\/products\/american-red-cedar-keepsake-box-black-paint-and-brass-strapwork-c-1930-1950","provider":"Viridian Eclection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}