This is a beautiful late 1800s Chinese hat box. It is made of cowhide leather, hand stitched and lacquered in Imperial Red. This box is a perfect cube measuring 12.5 inches on each side. There are labels on the interior of the box and it appears that there was some type of packing material inside at some point. Also, there’s a dessicated seed pod about 1.5 inches inside that appears to have been dyed a gorgeous ultramarine blue – I wasn’t able to find out much about the pod. It comes with the box, though, and is obviously quite old. This piece is unique among the hatboxes I found due to its shape, color and labeling of the interior. It was imported to the US from China at some point prior to 2000, and has been in climate controlled storage since. The box smells faintly of linseed oil and leather inside. It has no other odors and shows only age related scratches and wear to the surface. The hinges and handles work fine. Please check my photos and feel free to ask questions. I will be listing much of my dad’s collection, so please see my other listings in the coming weeks. Thank you for reading!