Old Painted Slide Top Box with Mountain, Trees, and Bunch of 19th C. Letters Inside vintage modernist jewelry with a truly wonderful patina

with a truly wonderful patina and a nice sturdiness and weight for its size

12" long x 13 1/2" tall x 3/4" thick

It is initialed LR on the bottom and dated '74

Really a terrific folk art object I think

as he looks to be holding a real gun

Old Painted Slide Top Box with Mountain, Trees, and Bunch of 19th C. Letters Inside vintage modernist jewelry with a truly wonderful patinaThe mountain dotted with trees and crescent moon in blue sky painted on one side of it is what drew me to this old box, but the paint on the rest of it, and especially the stack of handwritten correspondence inside dating back to the 1850s, sealed the deal! More about the letters below, but first the box, I'd guess painted early 1900s so. The mountain and trees are a bit dark, clearly meant to be a moonlight view, but are very readable, as is a second