After taking a recent interest in Georgian/Victorian writing boxes, I was lucky enough to stumble across one at the local boot fair.
Recently, I have become interested in writing boxes – wooden boxes that folded out into a writing slope and served as the lop-top computers of the Georgian and Victorian Periods. Nice examples of these boxes generally cost several hundred pounds, way out of my price range. But a couple of weeks ago, as I was wandering the tables at the local boot fair, I found a little battered example for £20 and snatched it up.
Although it is pretty beaten up, the box still had the full writing slope (often one half or the other is broken off) and thus could still actually be used. The biggest problem was that one of the hinges had snapped. After a little research, I discovered that the type of hinges generally employed on these boxes are no longer manufactured. So, I removed the old hinges (filling in the resultant holes with bits of basal wood painted to match) and installed some new little brass hinges. It now folds open perfectly, though it does have a bit of trouble closing. I also created a shallow little drawer on the inside to mock the secret draws that more expensive models contain. My box also has its original key, which is often missing these days. Of course, this is probably because it is stuck in the lock. It works perfectly, it just won’t come out.
My writing box is not a beautiful example, but it is fully functional, contains its original glass ink bottle and is now ready to serve as the home of my little artefact collection. Now all I need is some artefacts!
