Antique Candle Boxes
A candle box is a small lidded wooden box, usually hung on a kitchen or hall wall, made to keep tapers and candles dry, dark and away from mice.
Antique Candle Boxes
Candles were expensive, so from the 17th century onwards households kept them in a box with a sliding or hinged lid, hung near where they were needed. The form carried on as plain domestic joinery until gas and electric light made it pointless.
The one you are most likely to meet on Sellingantiques is a Georgian oak wall-hanging box. Oak fills very nearly half the titles in the category, and the listings themselves tend to be a single line saying just that: Georgian oak candle box, 18th century oak hanging candle box.
Mahogany is the main alternative, roughly a fifth of titles, some of it inlaid. Behind that come single listings in walnut, elm, yew, fruitwood and pine, and a small handful in metal, three English toleware boxes and three in brass. Shapes vary: tapered rectangular, fan-shaped, double-compartment.
Combination boxes are a real sub-type rather than a curiosity. Salt appears in nine titles, usually hedged as candle or salt box because the wall-hung form served both, and single examples pair the box with cutlery, a spoon rack, or salt and keys together.
Where The Range Splits
Apparent age does most of the work. The oak box with wire hinges put at about 1680 to 1700, a c.1710 elm box and a c.1730 oak box all sit near the upper end, while unlabelled Victorian and Edwardian examples hold the bottom. Only twenty of the listings commit to a year at all, so a date is the dealer's reading of the piece.
After that, size and decoration. Size is stated rather than measured in this archive, and the boxes called extremely large, unusually large or large double compartment sit above the middle. Carved, inlaid or shaped work climbs too: inlaid mahogany, carved oak, a fan-shaped fruitwood box, a Welsh bullseye-carved example. Plain oak titles run through the lower and middle.
Timber and surviving surface finish the picture. Named cabinet or unusual woods, walnut, yew, fruitwood, elm, tend to sit in the upper half, and the cheapest listings name no wood at all. Original ironwork and traces of old red paint carry a box upward as well.
Antique Candle Boxes Retail Price Guide 2026
Typical UK retail prices for candle boxes, calculated from the Sellingantiques database of over a million retail prices indexed since 2003. This retail price guide relies exclusively on Sellingantiques data; no external sources or auction records are used, so the figures do not describe the wider market.
Combination boxes are a real sub-type on Sellingantiques: salt appears in nine titles, and single examples pair the form with cutlery, a spoon rack, or salt and keys.
The Antique Candle Boxes Glossary
- Hanging or wall hanging
- The box has a pierced backboard or a hanging hole, so it sits on a wall rather than a shelf. About one title in eight says so.
- Sliding lid
- A lid running in grooves instead of on hinges. One sample title specifies it; hinged lids are the other option.
- Tapered
- The box narrows from back to front, or top to bottom. Two titles use the word.
- George III
- Reign shorthand for roughly 1760 to 1820, used in seventeen titles as a way of dating without naming a year.
- Primitive or farmhouse
- Dealer shorthand for plainly made country joinery with none of the cabinetmaker's refinement.
- Toleware
- Painted or japanned sheet tin. Three English toleware boxes appear in the category, alongside three in brass.
Antique Candle Boxes: Frequently Asked Questions
What wood are candle boxes usually made from?
Oak, in nearly half the titles on Sellingantiques. That makes every other timber a variant by comparison.
Mahogany is the next most common, at roughly a fifth, with some inlaid. Walnut, elm, yew, fruitwood and pine each turn up in single listings.
How old are antique candle boxes?
The dealers' own dating is dominated by Georgian and 18th century labels, with 19th century and 1800s behind them and only two given as Victorian.
Where a clean year is given the field runs 1750 to 1900, but only twenty of the listings commit to a year. Two are dated to the 17th century, and one oak box with wire hinges is put at about 1680 to 1700, the earliest thing in the archive.
Why are some called candle or salt boxes?
The same wall-hung lidded form was used for both, so dealers often hedge in the title. Salt appears in nine titles.
Other combinations show up as one-offs: candle and cutlery, a spoon rack with a box attached, and an elm box for candles, salt and keys together.
Were candle boxes made in metal?
Occasionally. Three English toleware examples appear, painted or japanned sheet tin, and three in brass.
One of the brass boxes is dated to about 1900, which sits at the very end of the form's working life.
What does a wall-hanging candle box look like?
A small box with a backboard extending above it, pierced or drilled so it hangs on a wall near where the candles were used.
Hanging or wall appears in a little over a tenth of titles. Where it is not stated, the box may equally have stood on a shelf.
Do unusual shapes come up in this category?
Yes, though sparsely. Tapered rectangular boxes are the norm, with fan-shaped and double-compartment examples alongside them.
Odd one-offs include a fan-shaped fruitwood box, a Welsh carved bullseye box, a complete oak tinder box and an Anglo-Indian campaign box. Around fifteen candle boxes are listed a year on Sellingantiques, so these appear thinly.