Every household had a work box or two. Work boxes were ostensibly containers for sewing and embroidery materials which featured a variety of small compartments to hold tools and little objects. Here’s a very handsome work box with a handy drawer at the front. The drawer opens by means of pulling a hidden catch.
This is not just your run-of-the-mill work box. This example with its leather cover and silk lining is the top-of-the-line and was probably quite expensive. It retains its original fittings which include two fixed pin cushions covered with printed silk, and several lidded compartments. Furthermore, this box still holds an assortment of small tools and souvenirs including a pin cushion in inlaid wood which sports a paper label that reads “A trifle from BRIGHTON,” an ivory tape measure with its original silk tape, and a small circular needle case covered in green silk.
The original owner of this particular box is unknown. While there is a brass plaque on the front, it was never engraved with the owner’s initials. At some point, as many antqiues did, this ended up in the hands of Mary of Teck (Duchess of York and Cornwall, Princess of Wales, and Later Queen Mary, Consort of King George V). This was one of many items that Queen Mary obtained specifically with the intention of giving them to the Victoria & Albert Museum.
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