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Unknown Wooden Box - Presume British

A

ammofo

Well-Known Member
I picked this box up that looks military to me despite a few oddities, however it has no markings that I can see. Does anybody have any ideas? Dimensions are 755mm x 185mm (excluding the runners on the top) x 165mm. It has what looks like a very old door handle on the top and some little catches on the front corner that remind me of the ones you get on a "Fullerphone" box. There are no interior partitions or evidence of any. It is of course possible that it's not military, but it certainly looks the part.
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I would agree that there have been some additions to the box since it was manufactured. The door handle, the hasp assembly and the flip over catches seem to be non standard. Have you tried gently removing any of the paint or can you detect any markings below the paint surface using strong lighting?
Final silly question - anything on the base?
 
Hi and thanks for your reply...I was beginning to wonder if the lack of replies meant that it wasn't military at all !!
I've checked everywhere in all kinds of light with a strong conviction that there must be some kind of markings somewhere but to no avail. I presume that if it was military it would have had some stencilling originally and wondered if this might negate the need for any kind of physical stamping into the wood. Do you (or anybody else!!) know if this was normally the case?
I've not removed any paint as I presumed it to be original, however there is no paint on the base...would this suggest that it might be a later addition.
The runners on the top would seem to be right for some kind of stacking arrangement and might allow clearance for something like a canvas handle ?
 
I am not qualified in this topic, but usually artillery ammo boxes have handles on both sides so 2 people can lift it. The central position of the handle implies something relatively light inside the box.
 
From my experience many British wooden boxes were stamped with their designation. BOCN member LcplCombat is the packaging guru on the site. He may have a better answer for you than I can offer.
 
Have a look at the end grain on both ends of the box, as makers or repaired boxes are marked on the grain, it can be very difficult sometimes to see. It looks to be a modified equipment box, perhaps originally holding a sight or surveying/delicate ish piece of kit.
 
I don't think this is military at all. I suspect it is simply a toolbox made by a tradesman, possibly used by a carpenter as it could hold a decent length saw.

If for a moment you take away the door handle, hasp and staple, and catches, what evidence is there that the box ever had any other means of being secured or carried? I can't see any holes or indications that anything has been removed, so I think it was made originally with all the fittings it now has. The timber is probably floor board.

The two runners on the lid I guess are strengthening battons to stop the lid splitting. If military I would have though there would have been two similar battons on the base at different spacing to allow boxes to interlock and be more stable when stacked.

A military box might have had some metal banding.

Final observation, the sides are nailed onto the ends with floor board nails, as evidenced by the rectangular holes made by their heads. I don't recall seeing these used on military boxes, only screws or round head wire nails.
 
It certainly looks military. My guess it is a transit case or box for some sort of equipment. Are there two battens on the base, offset to the ones on the lid?
 
No there aren't any battens on the bottom, and I think there may have been a different handle originally (also in the central position). I agree that the central handle suggests something other than ammo if it is military, and the stoutness of the timber would suggest that its contents were to be protected from impact damage.
As for the nails, they are oval nails not floorboard nails, although this doesn't negate the tradesman theory. However, bizarrely, when I bought this box I also bought a 72cm long WW2 military butcher's saw from the same person, and when I tried to carry it in the box the lid wouldn't close. A carpenter's saw wouldn't be quite so bulky...so again this might not make any difference !!
Incidentally, I've checked the end grain and still can't see anything.
 
Hello everyone. I am no specialist, but the box looks like it's been modified, the outside looks the part but not the inside, it seems that someone added an extra layer of wood to make it bigger, and the handle is definately not something you would use to stack up boxes. Why is the inside wear two tone?
 
That's something I'd wondered about. If that's the case then maybe it's been altered from a military box into a tool box. Unless somebody recognises it 100% then I dare say I'll never know, but it's fun to poke around with these things and it's great when everyone chips in to solve a mystery.....or not, maybe !!
If anyone has any more ideas please pitch in with your suggestions, but if everyone's had enough then let me just say thanks for all your head scratching and pearls of wisdom.
Cheers everyone
Jon
 
I still think it's been made that way, and is not modified. If an existing box had the extra height added, it's a bit of a coincidence that the extension is nailed together in the same manner as the lower part. Different colour timbers can be the result of using second hand materials, or having just aged differently. Old planks or floorboards can be different colours on opposite faces depending on exposure to light and useage.

Does the inside of the box have any signs (screw holes, glue marks, etc) of having ever had partitions, support blocks, turnscrews, or retaining straps?

Does the outside have any signs of how the lid was secured closed other than the current fittings?
 
No, there's no suggestion of inner partitions etc.
The outside offers no further clues either...I actually though the hasp might be original, but one of the fixings is a bit weird to say the least.
 
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