Featured Antique Writing Box - A True Conundrum

I see it as a treasure of a time when people carried around their working lives in boxes rather than cell phones. Same premise; different style. I love old wood, and was sad to see this abused.

 

I so admire your passion for these writing boxes. I have two other boxes to tackle, the sarcophagus tea caddy and the stationary box. This is why it is a difficult decision. I have already started to monitor sarcophagus box auctions as suggested by @Ce BCA for spare parts. And @808 raver gave me some great insights on the stationary box. Now you give me some excellent recommendations on this box. (Let me go into a corner and tear my hair out. ) I will take your recommendations very seriously. Thank you so much.

 

I've seen horrible "restorations" of old writing boxes where people screw hinges into the writing leaves and then screw them into the box.

No, no, no, no, no.

The writing surface is meant to be ONE LONG SMOOTH CONTINUOUS SURFACE.

You lay the leaves down on top of the open space. You put glue (usually wallpaper-glue or similar, was used) across the central section of the box (where it pivots open and shut) and then across the leaves.

Then on top of that, you put a cotton backing, and on top of that, the leather skiver. Making sure, of course, to remove any wrinkles or bubbles - ANY imperfections will stick out like a sore-thumb.

Once that's glued down and solid - it's done.

The leather skiver and its reinforcement fabric are not just the nice smooth surface to write on - it's also the structural element that physically holds the writing-leaves onto the box. That, and nothing else, is providing the strength.

Of course, there are other box-designs, where this is not the case, but that doesn't apply in this instance.

 

Wow What great detailed instructions! I love your enthusiasm. I have some questions:

1. the two wood leaves are thin pieces of wood?
2. the two wood leaves fit just inside the box edges?
3. The fabric/leather holds the two pieces together in the middle where they bend?
4. The leaves are attached to the box with the glue?
5. the two leaves lift up to expose the inside space of the box?
6. Does the fabric go over the edges or up to the edges?

I am trying to put this in my brain.

 

Wow What great detailed instructions! I love your enthusiasm. I have some questions:

1. the two wood leaves are thin pieces of wood?
2. Yes. Just thin sheets of wood, cut to fit the spaces inside the box. The lower leaf is larger.
3. the two wood leaves fit just inside the box edges?

Yes. They sit on the ridges you see inside the box.

1. The fabric/leather holds the two pieces together in the middle where they bend?

Yes.

1. The leaves are attached to the box with the glue?
   
   The leaves are laid loose inside the box, resting on the rims inside the storage compartments. Glue is applied. Cotton backing and then leather, is glued on top of that, going across the central space between the two halves of the box. That thin space between the two halves of the box (maybe 2-3 inches) is the only thing that's holding the leaves to the box.
2. 
   
3. the two leaves lift up to expose the inside space of the box?

Yes. The leaves would have little leather tabs glued into them (sticking out under, or even through, the skiver). These are the lift-tabs to open the leaves to get into the storage compartments underneath. The lower leaf will have a little brass catch to slot into a gap in the box-rim, to hold it shut when you close the box.

1. Does the fabric go over the edges or up to the edges?
   
   It depends on the box. Some, yes, right up to the edge. Others, no. They'd have a border of wood (maybe 1 inch?) around the edges, and the leather skiver would be inset into the wood, below the level of the veneer. This is largely up to style.
   
   From what I can see in your box, there would've been a 1-inch border of veneer running around the edge of the leaves, and the skiver would've been fitted within this border.

 

Fabulous. I so appreciate this. I'll be traveling for the next couple of weeks, and when I get back, I'll look more carefully at all your instructions. You have no idea how grateful I am for you taking the time to help me with this. I hate to see it be used for parts.

 

I don't begin to have Shangas' knowledge about them, but will observe that the skiver (love that new word, just have to remember that it's not scriver) can be leather or a short napped velour type of fabric. Leather generally seems to be embossed with gold to create a scrolling design around the edges. Ribbon can be used to make the pull loops for opening the panels on a box with a fabric skiver.

 

Excellent ideas. Thank you.

 

The skiver was often very thin leather (think bookbinding leather) or yes, a variant of velvet or felt. It was there to provide a cushioned, comfortable, padded writing surface.

You would've been writing on something like this with a sharp, steel-point pen - and those things can gouge out the wood if your nib slips while writing. To stop the point scratching into the wood under the paper, the skiver provided protection.

Yes, ribbon can be used as well, instead of leather, and yes, the borders of the skivers were often decoratively tooled and/or inlaid with gold-leaf.

Again, this was largely up to style, personal taste, and decoration. Some skivers were VERY plain, others were decorated so intensely, you'd be scared to write on them.

 

"Skiver" - thin leather sheeting used for lining surfaces, bookbinding, etc. Also, in this case, used for surfacing writing-slopes.

I've been into writing-boxes since I was a child. I've fixed more than I care to think about. At my peak, I had about a dozen of them in my collection, but I sold off most of them because...well...they take up a LOT of space. Now I have two or three which I keep, for sentimental reasons.

 

I had never heard of "skiver" either and because I'm a language nut, I had to google the etymology of "skive off." Below are two explanations:

"split or cut into strips, pare off, grind away," 1825, from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse skifa "to cut, split," from Proto-Germanic *skif-, from PIE root *skei- "to cut, split." Related: Skived; skiver; skiving.

It seems to have been military slang from the time of the First World War and the common assumption is that the British army in France borrowed it from French esquiver, to slink away.

 

New word for me too. It makes sense that there would be a technical term for the writing surface in a small box. My great-grandma's desk originally had a leather blotter surface, but it was gone before I was born.

 

Thanks for the information!