Excellent Antique Shellwork Jewelry Box surreal I think this all makes

I think this all makes the piece even better

with one visible scratch over the pansy at top center right and a few other scattered smaller stains and scratches and some rusting on the backside rim

though one might be tempted to leave this handsome mustachioed Chicago fireman right where he is

which is without a bottom

it makes an ideal planter--refined enough for inside

Excellent Antique Shellwork Jewelry Box surreal I think this all makesI've been looking a long time for an antique shellwork box to really love, and finally found it in the this one (though I am still on the hunt for a sailor's valentine!) As a genre, I think of these as the coastal cousins of chip carved tramp art boxes, but I've found it rare to find ones that elevate gluing to shells onto a box to something that feels like an art form! I think in part it is the use of crushed shells to encrust every inch of the