Featured Wood Box Foreign Help

Hi All,
nice painted box, mirror inside, marked foreign on the bottom. I've seen porcelain pieces marked foreign (they were from 1920s), I believe the mark was used to indicate it was for export. I've never seen a wood piece marked like this.
Wondering where this would be from, and time frame?
The size is 8 1/2" x 6" x 2 1/2".
here is a similar one, not marked on the bottom
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/Vintage-Woo...681856?hash=item4b5cdf3f80:g:2RYAAOSwhxhaexND
any information appreciated.
thanks for looking

 

Looks like a shaving box.

 

Hi,
Looks like a nice box. When things were marked foreign it was to get them imported into a country not exported. Sometimes it took years to get over things. I remember once I brought a Japanese friend to visit my Grandmother. She was very social and polite but when we were leaving she tossed my friend's cup and saucer into the trash. She said she did the same thing with everything she got that was Japanese since she never got over Pearl Harbor. This was in 1983!!!!!
greg

 

I can relate Greg. I had a relative who basically felt the same way.

 

Most likely from Poland...

https://www.etsy.com/listing/508912550/vintage-hand-carved-wood-jewelry-box

~Cheryl

 

thanks for the replies folks

excellent, thanks for the link Cheryl

 

I agree, Polish. It is very nice, I love the interlaced knot design. In Poland that would be called old Slavic, every region in Europe calls it their own.

 

Ireland. green and orange. Celtic knots.
https://www.ancient-symbols.com/celtic-knots.html

 

thanks fid

 

Pretty -- I've had a few smaller items like this. Does the country of origin matter very much? I have seen items made in Poland that look somewhat like this. Fid pointing out that the design is Celtic knots made me wonder. I also have a small carved wooden holder containing a perfume vial that came from Bulgaria. So could be other eastern European countries.

 

it could even be Skandinavian.

 

They are European interlaced designs that are called Celtic in some countries, Viking in others, and Slavic in yet others. In the Netherlands we can chose between Frankish and Celtic, since we had both cultures (and some others), and both loved knot designs.

The box itself is Polish, so the designs would qualify as Slavic. Or maybe even Renaissance, which also had interlaced designs.
Irish and Scottish pyrography is generally not as refined as Polish, but the items they decorate are generally better quality.

 

could even be a mozarabic interlaced pattern.

 

The presence of an 'endless knot' motif doesn't really indicate a specific origin - the construction, workmanship, technique, etc. used in production does - very similar boxes are often made in Poland, but as Figtree points out, Bulgaria is also a possibility, and this one may well be...

A Bulgaria box: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-py...m43663.l10137&nordt=true&rt=nc&orig_cvip=true

Bulgarian with knot design: https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/545729575/vintage-handmade-wooden-box-case-vintage

and another: https://www.etsy.com/listing/266545...e?ga_search_query=box&ref=shop_items_search_9

~Cheryl

 

I can't help but notice some similarities to the pencil box AJefferson sent me in our Secret Santa gift exchange this past holiday. According to an inscription on the bottom, the box she sent me was given as a gift in Starnberg, Germany, in 1945:

 

thanks for all the replies folks

not really, it can be sold without knowing where it was made, but trying to determine where an item is from is just part of the research

 

It's an interesting discussion. I love the look of this kind of box, and am appreciating all of the links!

 

Me too fig