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Painted Pantry Box
 This 19th Century Pantry Box from Pennsylvania is "special" in more ways than one. The detail and quality of the painted decoration is representative of the decorative arts of Pennsylvania and very well done. On the cover we have a lady dressed in Pennsylvania Dutch style clothing and encircling the sides of the little box we have the well-loved Tulip.
 The little oval box is 6-1/2" long x 4-3/4" wide x 2-1/2" high, fastened with copper tacks and wooden pegs. The sides are birdseye maple and the top and bottom are made of pine. The opposing fingers are beautifully made. The lid and the bottom are fastened with just four points which would point to a Hersey attribution. While these boxes with opposing laps are often called "Harvard Shaker" they are not Shaker but more likely Hersey made. The extremely fine quality of workmanship of the woodenware made by the five generation Hersey Family of Coopers, from the early 1700 s until the late 1800 s, often leads to confusion between their wares and those made by or attributed to the Shaker communities. As June Sprigg has written, "We frequently see oval boxes with single large fingers called "Harvard Shaker" on the market, but we have not seen proof that any such boxes were made by the Shakers in Harvard, Mass. or anywhere else. Neither have we seen a Shaker box on which the lid and side fingers point in opposite directions . . . " The boxes made by the Herseys basically were made of the same materials the Shakers used . . . maple sides, pine top and bottom fastened with wooden pins, and copper or iron tacks to fasten the laps. There are only four points fastening the top and bottom to a Hersey box. Shakers will have more points and will be copper, not wooden. The oval Hersey boxes are more rectangular than the Shaker boxes and the inside seam is not fastened with a tack at the upper corner as are the Shaker examples. The box itself is in excellent condition and most likely was used as a "Trinket" box rather than in the pantry for food storage. It most certainly was a treasured possession as evidenced by the very fine condition and surface. The artist has signed the box with the initials "E. G. B."
 P5D24994 Questions? Ask the Ferret!
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