What were walnut boxes used for?

For domestic jobs at table or desk. Writing is the commonest named purpose by a wide margin, then jewellery, then tea, with sewing, games, stationery and general storage behind them. A good number are simply titled as table boxes, with no fitting named and no single use attached.

Are these boxes solid walnut or veneered?

The titles describe the surface, not the construction. Burr and figured walnut are veneers, cut for their pattern and laid over a carcase, and those two words dominate the category. What lies underneath isn't something the listings on Sellingantiques set out, so the wood named is the wood you can see.

How old is a Victorian walnut box likely to be?

Treat 'Victorian' as a sixty-odd-year window rather than a year. It's the label on 487 of the dated entries, with a further 86 given only as '19th Century'. Where dealers do name a decade, the cluster falls between 1860 and 1890. The field as a whole runs from 1750 to 1940.

What does brass bound mean on a box?

Brass strips or corner pieces let into the edges, which both protect the corners and draw a line round the box. Brass is named in 148 titles, and brass bound accounts for half of those. The rest are brass mounted, brass inlaid or cut-brass overlaid.

Do walnut writing slopes really have secret drawers?

Some do, and 31 titles say so outright. They're concealed drawers inside the slope, usually behind or beneath the writing surface. Slopes without them are far more common, and many listings describe only the sloping writing face and the compartments beside it.

Which walnut boxes are unusual on Sellingantiques?

Anything outside the domestic table box. The archive holds a hanging candle box, a treen string holder, a novelty Scottie dog cigarette box, a secret safe disguised as a book and a butler's carry tray. Origins outside England are uncommon too. Kashmiri Anglo-Indian, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Scottish and Irish examples turn up once or twice each across the whole run.