Antique Star-painted Wooden Matchbox with Match Strips beeswax object I can never keep old

I can never keep old sets of Color Cubes like this in stock for very long

This hide used for this one has been stained black

and the brass looks very much to me like  melted down shell casings

1880s or so

The print is in very good condition

Antique Star-painted Wooden Matchbox with Match Strips beeswax object I can never keep oldSmall, but stunning! I believe this wonderfully painted wooden vesta dates to the mid 19th century or so, I think Pennsylvania Dutch. It is in fantastic condition and really just a little gem of a thing. And while the interior box with striker is gone, it came with several "match strips" dating from the period, which are lovely things too. From what I understand, these matches were sold in bulk, most commonly in paper wrapped sub packets of five