Featured Does anybody know where these boxes were made and when?

BTW this writing slope is turning out to be a real pig of a restoration, it's not the dismantling of the joints, it's the cleaning. I've been at it for days, IPA, hot soapy water, heat gun for the hide glue (that doesn't want to let go and is hanging on for dear life). It's the deepness of the carving, I don't have a brush long and stiff enough to reach.

 

too bad about the corners , but I guess all that deep carving makes them susceptible to damage..

 

Do you have any "paste" brushes They are boar bristle, quite stiff, and come in different sizes -


https://www.talasonline.com/Conserv...JJr-rx0TERCPym8LC5VSBhehu05lKvRxA1TeRSt3rQFsE

 

I was wondering about that, I did ask if there was any damage and he said there wasn't but I did pay about 10% of it's true value so if it has damage, so be it. These antiques are very rarely mint, so many badly carved boxes for every one good one, I'll take it any way I can. You never know, I might be able to restore it, it wouldn't be the first time I've shaped a bit of ebony it fill a missing bit on a carved ebony box.

 

That would be perfect, thank you. I have a store up the road that sells all manor of brushes, I bet they sell those, I'll go up there later and get one.

 

Ya, sometime you have to let the seller think they put one over on you..... when u know you've made out like a bandit !!!

Still, they lied to you .... and u know it !

 

I don't know if there is damage at all or if it's just the way it's carved but I might be missing something?

 

ok....we
ll see good shots of the corners when you get it...
I'm no expert on these carvings... just see what I see from one photo..

 

I'm not saying there isn't any damage. I don't think I've seen one that doesn't have some missing piece. These carved boxes are notorious for damage because the long grain is cut in so many places, still that doesn't make them less sort after. It normally take a while to notice the damage because it's so busy.

 

Please don't feel that I'm being all Grammar Queen-ish here, but I noticed you have written "sort after" a couple of times and the phrase actually is "sought after." Sought is the past tense of seek. And I have found your boxes beautiful and fascinating. You may remember that I have a couple of pieces of Hoshiapur furniture made prior to Indian independence.

 

that's ok , a grammar queen would not have missed the other mistakes......

I vote auto correct.... or regional dialect.... or whatever....

 

This. Neurodivergence can mess with language and writing.

 

.... so does being tired..!!

 

Absolutely.

 

No, just dyslexic (like all the great minds )

 

BTW I phoned the FB seller about the carved Indian box and he's been ill so won't be sent out until Saturday so at least Tuesday before I find out the extent of the damage.

 

BTW the word is "Hoshiarpur" not "Hoshiapur"

 

That'll teach me from writing from memory! You write very well, and that was the only spelling/grammar quibble I had! (I worked with a few students with dyslexia and I have to say that computer programs have helped a great deal -- especially speech to text which allows for free flow of writing.)

 

I'll be the first to admit my spelling and writing is terrible, I've never been academic in anyway, despite this I've managed to be as successful as I wanted to be. How did Daniel Defoe putt it? In "Robinson Crusoe," the "middle station in life". I wasn't upset you pointed it out but I'm afraid pointing out my spelling and grammar mistakes could be a full time job.

 

Thank you for being so nice about it! I do not note mistakes often because it can be rude which is not what I mean to do, and it takes away from the point. The point is communication and I certainly understand what you communicate! "Sought after" is a common expression and like a lot of other common expressions it can be written and spoken incorrectly. For example, some people say "it's a doggie dog world" which kind of makes sense, but the expression is "it's a dog-eat-dog world." And, I really hate to come across like some old school-marm. Finally, academics is not the "be-all, end-all."