What were leather boxes used for?

Each was made for something specific. The archive is dominated by jewellery boxes, then writing boxes, slopes and stationery or document boxes, then hat cases built for silk toppers. Smaller runs cover work and sewing boxes, gun and cartridge cases, apothecary and decanter boxes, and lockable despatch boxes of official or military type.

Are these solid leather or covered wood?

Both. Some are leather skinned over a wooden or board carcase; others are wooden boxes that dealers title leather bound or leather covered, a phrasing used in 33 listings between the two terms. A minority aren't leather-bodied at all, being wooden boxes lined or topped with leather.

Which period do most of them come from?

The nineteenth century, chiefly Victorian. Of 276 listings, 61 are given as Victorian and 32 only as nineteenth century, so a third of that material carries no decade. The early twentieth century follows close behind, with the 1920s, 1900s and 1910s all well represented, plus Edwardian and 1930s entries. Regency accounts for twelve, several of them work boxes.

Do crocodile and other exotic skins appear?

They do, as a thin seam rather than a branch. Crocodile and alligator come up most often, then pigskin, shagreen and parchment, with pony skin recorded once. When a skin is named rather than left as plain leather, the box tends to sit higher in the range. Croc and alligator jewellery cases appear at both ends of it.

How many leather boxes are listed each year?

Around 26 a year on Sellingantiques, from an archive of 276 listings. A hundred and one different dealers have offered one, close to one dealer per listing. This is stock that surfaces across the trade rather than a specialism anyone corners.

What unusual forms have turned up?

Single oddities include an embossed leather voting box, a leather pillow box, a Chinese lacquered document box from Shanxi, and a Japanese Meiji jewellery box. Faux-book caskets appear, one of them a large document box said to come from Lambeth Palace. Officialdom shows up in red and black morocco despatch boxes and a colonial metal dispatch box housed in a leather case.