What sort of box turns up most often?

Tea caddies. The word caddy appears in 49 of 268 titles and tea in 54, which makes it the largest identifiable form in the category by a clear margin. Behind it sit generic table boxes, caskets, and jewellery, trinket and keepsake boxes, which together account for roughly another two-fifths of what has been listed.

Which woods do these boxes use?

Rosewood is the commonest named timber at 24 titles, then walnut, burr veneers and mahogany. Coromandel, the dense black-and-brown striped hardwood, appears on eight. Beyond those, the archive carries amboyna, kingwood, satinwood, thuya, padouk, laburnum oyster and Gonçalo Alves, usually on smaller pieces where a striking veneer does the decorating.

Are there named makers in this category?

No. The category is described by material, form and decoration rather than by workshop, and no maker registers as a category-wide presence. What does get named instead is origin: English on 19 titles and French on 18, with single appearances for Swedish, Dutch, Russian, Persian, Afghan, Qajar Iranian, Burmese and Scottish work.

How old are the oldest examples?

The dated field runs from 1750 to 1950. The earliest clean years attach to a George II brass-mounted padouk tea caddy of about 1760, an English lead tobacco keeper of about 1750, and two tortoiseshell caddies also given as 1750. A few pieces go further back on the strength of their titles alone: a 17th-century olive wood lace box, a 17th-century floral marquetry box and a 17th-century Afghan box.

What counts as a fitted interior?

Anything the box was built to carry that's still with it. Caddies come with inner metal canisters, a glass mixing bowl, a mixing stick, a sugar dish or a key. Sewing, writing and games boxes carry their own fittings. Listings tend to spell it out in the title, with words like complete or fitted interior doing the selling.

Do unusual or novelty boxes appear?

Regularly enough to count as a minor theme. Book-shaped boxes recur, including a pair of stacking books, three fake books and a leather faux-book casket, plus a biscuit tin made to imitate carved Indian hardwood. Other oddities have included a carved coconut shell, a porcupine quill box, a four-tier treen spice tower and a painted waste paper bin sold as a tea canister.