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. 

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?!

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.

1990? Matchbook advertising "Aesops: Riverside's Finest."  Unknown source This matchbook features an image of a fox looking up at Aesop, who holds a staff.  The restaurant advertises itself as "Riverside's Finest."  A quick check in Google seems to indicate that this restaurant, however fabulous it was, no longer exists.

2000?  Set of five English matchboxes, each with a black-and-white image on one face and the corresponding fable text on the obverse.  "AV 30."  Made in Japan.  Cornish Match Company, Cornwall, St. Ives, GB.  $50 from Leonie Walker, Derbyshire, England, through eBay, Feb., '12. A quick guess says that these are Bewick illustrations.  The fables presented are OR, TH, CP, AD, and "The Countryman and the Snake." 

1992? Eighteen matchboxes, each giving the title and an illustration for a fable of Ivan Krylov. $25 from Samuel Princell, Lille, France, through eBay, Dec., '05. Here are the same matchbox labels mentioned in the previous item, but now gathered as a set in a lovely presentation box. It turns out that there is one more member of the set that was not present in the individual pairs of illustrations: "The Fox and the Grapes." The designs are simple and appealing, always featuring a white label at the top. Fables included are: The Broom The Cat and the Cook The Cock and the Pearl The Cuckoo and the Cock The Dragonfly and the Ant The Eagle and the Mole The Elephant and the Pug The Fox and the Grapes The Industrious Bear The Lion and the Fox The Mirror and the Monkey The Monkey and the Spectacles The Quartet The Raven and the Fox The Swan, the Pike and the Crayfish The Swine Under the Oak The Two Dogs The Wolf and the Stork.

2010?    Four supersized (4 ¼" X 11 ½" X 1") matchboxes featuring details of Fraipont's 1888 illustrations along with La Fontaine's text for FS, WL, FG, and MM.  Made in France.  Allumettes Seita.  $11.93 apiece from Desallumettesenveuxtu on eBay, August, '15. 

I have put together four different purchases of Seita matchboxes. Let me describe them first and then present images. Those images will match those that I have listed under French matchbox covers. 1950? Thirty French matchboxes, each giving the title and an illustration for a fable of either Jean de La Fontaine or Florian. From desallumettesenveuxtuenvoila through eBay, August, '15. Here is a complete set of thirty matchboxes. 1950? Twenty-nine French matchboxes, each giving the title and an illustration for a fable of either Jean de La Fontaine or Florian. $25.90 from from desallumettesenveuxtuenvoila through eBay, August, ' This almost-complete set, missing only "Les Deux Pigeons," replicates the full set of covers in both sets of SEITA illustrations, minus the two larger covers apparently used for packages of ten. Their images are thus the same as that set. 1950? Twenty-nine French matchboxes, each giving the title and an illustration for a fable of either Jean de La Fontaine or Florian. £14 from lifeiselsewhere through eBay, April, '03. It is comic that I have two sets that are complete except for one matchbox. Luckily, the missing matchbox is not the same in this set as in the other. Here the missing matchbox is "The Lion and the Mosquito." Again, this almost-complete set replicates the full set of covers in both sets of SEITA illustrations, minus the two larger covers apparently used for packages of ten. Their images are thus the same as that set. 1950? Fourteen French matchboxes, each giving the title and an illustration for a fable of either Jean de La Fontaine or Florian. 13 Euros for thirteen matchboxes from Romuald Outrequin, Toulon, France, through Ebay, Jan., '02. These join a set I had bought from Mr. Outrequin earlier. These are the first that I found, and they are those pictured first below.  What a pleasure to see covers I had found in two other places now on their boxes. FG, TMCM, and "La Taupe et les Lapins" repeat from there. Strong new designs here include "La Belette Entrée dans un Grenier," FK, "Le Heron," and "Le Renard et le Bouc." Just below are those first-found fourteen.

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. It is tempting to see this shallow box as made for cigars, but I lean rather toward the theory that it housed a set of six-sided picture blocks.  This box is well worn!  Two of the scenes are rare choices for a small selection of La Fontaine's fables:  "Bertrand and Raton" and "Two Mice and an Egg."

Russian lacquer box, signed by Fedoskino artist Zaitseva. 3" x 2½" x 1½" high. The scene depicted on the cover is FC.

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!

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!