SOLD 19th Century Book Shaped Spruce Gum Box with wonderful Inlays and Chip Carving (No Slide) yorkshire and a merman/mermaid of sorts

and a merman/mermaid of sorts etched into the surface just below

The more battered the better for me when it comes to old decoys-- it's the one's that wear their work on their backs (literally) and that show all sorts of losses and/or repairs that I find most appealing

I did not hesitate

to fall in love with

SOLD 19th Century Book Shaped Spruce Gum Box with wonderful Inlays and Chip Carving (No Slide) yorkshire and a merman/mermaid of sortsI'm always happy when I bring home a spruce gum box they've gotten so precious I most often just have to admire them and let them go and of course anything with inlaid heart or star, or both, on it too! (And what a fabulous star here especially.) Kin to sailor's valentines and knotwork baskets, spruce gum boxes (also called gum books as they were primarily shaped like books) were made by loggers far from home to bring home to sweethearts and loved