Super Sweet Antique Primitive Book Shaped Pencil Box with Wire Hinges old folk art cat trained under Academic history painters

trained under Academic history painters Fernand Cormon and Jean Paul Laurens and exhibited at the salon of French artists

periwinkle blue-gray paint with silver trim

and making opening the mail feel a little more festive

there are lots of cursive-written names

and because I think everyone should have a set--or many

Super Sweet Antique Primitive Book Shaped Pencil Box with Wire Hinges old folk art cat trained under Academic history paintersI really love this old box, I presume made for holding writing implements. It looks like a tall and narrow book to me, with the short sides slightly recessed from the long sides so as to look like pages. With its original wired hinges, and a wire loop that comes up through a cut in the wood of the top to meet a small brass hook. Nice bleeding around the forged iron nails, and a well worn woven green fabric lining. First half 19th c. I'd think, and