Thread: Escher/Thuringian Unique Wooden Box?

I just checked 9 boxes - none of them were made the way your one is. Similar, but different - the smaller end pieces are indeed rebated into the longer edges, but there is no retaining tenon.

Interesting...

I used to collect old 1860s - 80s ambrotypes, tintypes, etc. The ones in cushioned leather boxes that opened up to reveal the photo were composed of a box made in a similar fashion - different dimensions of course. The leather and padding were put on later.

I recall seeing a series of drawings and pictures of one of the factories where this type of box was made (every photo supply company - similar to barber supplies with vast ranges of products in their books - had these boxes in different sizes) and the main thing about the box is that it was all glued up as a larger cube and could not be opened.

Once the glue was dry they had wafer thin but quite deep saw blades, and the cubes were passed down the line with the centre line facing the blade, so they were cut into two identical halves. It had never ocurred to me they were made like that before, and that whole mills were so geared up to producing one such product.

I am guessing that the boxes with the tenons were a later improvement - they would stay together better than the earlier ones with the short ends just rebated into the longer ends. They used mainly hot animal skin and bone glues, both of which soften up with prolonged wet times, then they dry again, crystalise and flake away. Sometimes no glue is left at all - except that holding the stone in the box, and the edges are very loose. A tenon would be a good idea in such a case...

Regards,
Neil