Boxes
I have found boxes of various sorts and sizes. Here they are:
Clairefontaine Set of Six Cardboard Boxes
2018? Set of six cardboard boxes picturing La Fontaine fables on their covers. Etival Clairefontaine: Clairfontaine. €39.90 from Librairie Dinali, Strasbourg, July, '19.
Now here is something most unusual! I imagine these boxes are meant as organizers for children. They have spirited portrayals of six fables, one on the cover of each box. The other five boxes fit nicely into the largest box. I happened to notice these in the Dinali store in Strasbourg. As I remember it, it was basically a stationery store with some used books. A casual glance at a top shelf paid off! Now, four years later, I try to find some photos or descriptions on the web, and there is only one reference, and that reference leads nowhere. So here we are saving something drastically ephemeral! A second strong recollection is that I tried to talk the store manager into mailing me the boxes. She insisted that I go straight to the post office down the street and mail them myself. I believe the postage was almost double the cost of the boxes!
Lacquer Boxes
1980? Russian lacquer box from the village of Palekh illustrating five different stories by Ivan Krylov. Paper mache, gold ink, handmade and handpainted, signed by the artist. 4½" x 4½" x 3½". Excellent condition. $76 from Yury Korchinsky, Reseda, CA, through Ebay, August, '99.
This black box is octagonal, with each of the square's edges turned into a very short side. The colors are lovely. Each of the images has a gold-ink background, and each of the short sides a gold-ink branch pattern. The inside is painted a simple bright red. The five fables--each labelled in Russian with a title--are, if one faces the box, "Trishkin's Kaftan" (top), "Demianov's Fish Soup" (front), "The Cat and the Cook" (right), "The Peasant and the Bear" (back), and "The Wolf in the Kennel" (left). I presume that this is a one-of-a-kind item. It is simply exquisite!
Les plus jolies fables de La Fontaine Wooden Box
1930? Wooden box "Les plus jolies fables de La Fontaine." Six scenes: WC; "Bertrand and Raton"; FC; "Two Mice and an Egg"; TMCM; and FS. 10½: x 7¼". 2" high. $50 from MidIslandMiscellany through Etsy, July, '22.
Porcelain Boxes
1995? Limoges-style porcelain hinged trinket box. A tortoise and a hare perch on top. 2½" x 1¾" x 2¼" high. Made in China. $9.99 from Sue Cartwright, La Jolla, CA, through Ebay, August, '00. Extra exemplar for $4.99 from Today's Collectibles LLC, Midland, MI, through Ebay, July, '00.
The tortoise has his head up as a sign of alertness and effort. In the meantime the hare sleeps, with his head, paws and ears on the ground. Inside there is a little trophy for the winner.
Click on the image to see it enlarged.
Candy Boxes
1935? Two French cardboard chocolate boxes. 7” x 3⅜” picturing “Two Doves”; WL; MM; FC; and TMCM. 5” x 3⅞” featuring two mice opening a box of chocolate mice! Heavy cardboard. “Made in France.” $10 from chad555, Pottstown, PA, on Ebay, Dec., ’20.
What a lovely find! The covers feature simple, charming multicolored scenes. This little pair of treasures comes from the parent of a student at a fellow Jesuit University, the University of San Francisco. And what about these mice – town and country? – who find themselves offered chocolate mice?!
Cigar Boxes
1930? Cigar box "Aesop." $20 from an unknown source on Ebay, Feb., '90.
Finding this cigar box was one of the biggest surprises I have had in collecting. Equally surprising is that I have never heard another whisper of "Aesop" cigars. Not a peep! What might Aesop have to do with cigars? By the way, this may be the handsomest Aesop I have seen. He is certainly not the "human turnip" of the popular lives of Aesop.