Featured American Trinket Box - 1831

I've just come across this small (15 x 13 x 12 cm) trinket/jewelry (?) box which is supposedly of walnut.
My interest in purchasing the box has significantly declined upon noticing that there appears to be veneer missing from the rear side of the lid (see pics).
The inscription, in German, roughly translates as 'To remember Elisabeth Haas'

I'd be grateful to know :

i) How common are such boxes ?
ii) Were they usually made for trinkets/jewelry - or was there another use ?
iii) Despite the damage, would the box have any collector's value ?

Many thanks for any help !

 

What makes it American?

 

"Philadelphia 1831" on one side?

 

LOL Didn't squint at it hard enough. Looked like old German script to me.

 

although you find - but very rarely - Kremationsschatullen I tend to believe it is not German of origin, but a crematory casket that may have held some ashes that were split up for different branches of the family from a person that died in the USA and this one was sent back to Europe. the dark color looks Victorian.

 

Where do you get these ideas? "Split up between different branches of the family??" What makes you think it was made for cremated ashes? The "To remember" part?

 

"zur erinerung" = in memory of

Dividing of the ashes has happened in my family. Not a fan of the idea personally.

 

Thanks for the info, MOS. My family hasn't done it either. In fact they've only just gotten around to cremation relatively recently.

 

Thanks for your help Fid. That sounds very feasible.
Although I must admit, rare or not - its not the sort of thing I'd want to acquire - if you see what I mean !
Thanks, anyway !

 

There were /are a lot of Pennsylvania Dutch in Philadelphia so not surprising to find German there.

 

Quite a few German too.

 

most families that had to emigrate from Europe to the USA didn't think themselves happy; often it was looked upon as a shame in a first time, which of course doesn't exclude later happiness.
in Northern Germany e.g. it was the meagre and low-quality pastures; in the Alps it was often people that had to be supported by the villages and forced out by buying them a passage.
and then in those years Napoleon "visited" Germany twice - once on his way to Russia and once on the way back, so there might also be a bit of nationalism mixed in.

 

Maybe not ashes then. Maybe just a souvenir of home.

 

Just in case you’re not joking,
“Some groups—especially those who remain apart—still speak (in addition to English) a German dialect known as Pennsylvania Dutch or Pennsylvania German, a blending of High German (in reference to the altitude of their natal region), various German dialects, and English. The word Dutch (from German Deutsch, meaning “German”), which once encompassed all non-English speakers of Germanic languages, is in the 21st century a misnomer, as Dutch has come to be associated strictly with people from the Netherlands.”
Pennsylvania Dutch = Pennsylvania Deutsch
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pennsylvania-German

 

speak like Federer...


my favorite is still this here... we ALL got wonderful butts...

 

I wasn't joking but I see your point. I was equating "Dutch" to Holland and "German" to Germany. I stand corrected.