Very Wonderful 19th Century Paint Decorated Treen Book Box with Slide Opening, Signed Mark Bailey antique boxed blocks Someone clearly loved this a

Someone clearly loved this a lot

is actually one of my favorite recent finds

shorter 6 3/4" l

Graphite and crayon on ledger paper

Very Wonderful 19th Century Paint Decorated Treen Book Box with Slide Opening, Signed Mark Bailey antique boxed blocks Someone clearly loved this aA rare find and a real beauty, found in upstate NY. This is a small, paint decorated, folk art book shaped box, carved from one piece of wood, with a slide opening on the long side. It feels close kin to a spruce gum box, but the slide on those is typically on one short end, and they tend to be a bit larger and this feels to me a bit earlier, c. 1840s I believe. With this gorgeous wide band of rich mustard paint across the near top of the spine for