Description

Extremely rare bow-fronted antique campaign military writing box. Made of solid Mahogany and then beautifully veneered with flame mahogany top and front. With strong brass edging, large engraved vacant prince of wales initial plate, carry handles, and the ornate escutcheon. The lid of this writing slope has a brass facing which lips over the underside when closed to prevent tampering, never seen this before on a writing box making it totally unique. and extremely difficult to force open.

The vacant unusual initial plate on the top is flanked by the heraldic badge of the Prince of Wales. The three ostrich feathers are used in royal heraldry, but also to symbolise Wales especially in Welsh elements of the British Army. With this being a campaign box this symbol points towards this belonging to someone who served in the military. The front escutcheon is also a more stylised take on this Badge.

Opening this magnificent campaign writing box reveals a dark black-blue leather writing surface, flanked by brass brackets which lend to the robustness of build of this writing box.
The lower half of the writing surface is secured by a brass latch. Lifting it reveals a large storage space with its original crossband ribbon on the underside which is used for holding letters and paperwork. On the back edge of this compartment is its original removable reading rail. This has two pegs so it can be placed on the top of the box, and then can be positioned and different angles using the brass lectern on the inside of the box.

The beautiful curve shape of this box continues with the top half of the slope and follows through the top compartments as a showing of true craftsmanship.
The top half of the writing surface is lockable and features a bone escutcheon. Once the unlocked it can be lifted to reveal another large storage space. However, this one comes with a secret! By removing the pen tray above this compartment there are two small wooden rests that the pen tray sits on. If you press down on the right-hand rest it will cause a false secret wall to spring forward revealing three hidden drawers with turned bone handles, each constructed by tiny dovetailed joints. !

On the right-hand edge of the open writing box, there is a brass pin which is used to secure a side drawer. Removing the pin will allow the drawer to be opened and even removed completely. This drawers depth runs the entire width of the writing box giving a large and secure storage space.

This exceptional Prince of Wales writing box comes with fully working locks, the main one stamped with a Crown GR and Patent Birm “Tompson ” and both come with tasselled keys.

All our items come with authentication certificate with image, care instructions and separate invoice for insurance purposes. On top of this, our items come with 14 days no-quibble money-back guarantee and are all fully insured when shipping.

Additional information