Wonderful Old Maine General Store Large Tin Match Safe with Fitted Wooden Lid antique hand-painted box The sides of the basket

The sides of the basket are finished with two large circular ash ring handles which are bound with ash splints

as if Kosarek wanted to capture both the face and back of the head at once

I really love the painted design on this lid of this old cigar type box

and in my experience its pretty rare to find an original set of these together actually spelling a word

Wonderful Old Maine General Store Large Tin Match Safe with Fitted Wooden Lid antique hand-painted box The sides of the basketThis I found in mid coast Maine, and I know from the seller I purchased it from that it came out of an old general store not far from there. As is evident from the old hand writing that runs around the rim of the lid, it served as a large (general store sized) match safe. Really a beautiful thing, made of tin with this great wooden lid with simple, super sturdy handle for lifting it off, wonderfully worn from doing so time and time again. The lid