Antique Handmade Book Box with Interior Portrait carved mirror 12 1/4" x 8 7/8"

12 1/4" x 8 7/8"

which are well attached

and the rust on this little saw blade certainly attests to that

There is some wear to the wood in one spot on the interior lip of the bottom

I am so dumb I cannot write in this album

Antique Handmade Book Box with Interior Portrait carved mirror 12 1/4" x 8 7/8"I rarely meet a book shaped thing I don't like, and this feels like something of an example of not judging a book by its cover! I'm thinking there may once have been a picture of some sort adhered to the outside cover, which shows a bare spot surrounded by red paint now and perhaps that picture functioned as a sort of counterpart to the portrait print of woman in large plumed hat inside; my guess is that it turned this book box into a c. 1800 French