Wooden Box

SUBMITTED BY: V.W., Crocker, MO

PROVENANCE: Passed down from her grandmother, who believed it belonged to her aunt’s husband

WHAT IT IS: Appraiser Karen Keane of Skinner shared with

Antiques Roadshow’s Marsha Bemko that your family treasure is a repurposed circa-1900 factory-made cigar box that was decorated with a handmade pyrographic design (created with a stencil template) and personalized with the initials and photograph that are found inside the box’s lid. “My guess is it was a Christmas present and lovingly handmade for its intended owner,” says Karen. Unfortunately, the labels on the bottom are too obscured to determine the specific cigar company from which this box came.

WHAT IT’S WORTH: $50 to $100

did you know... Rediscovered in the late 19th century as part of the Arts & Crafts movement, pyrography is the ancient art of decorating objects by burning them with hot implements.