Early American .75 Caliber Cartridge Box With Embossed Flap

This box has a number of primitive and early characteristics. The main one is thatthe interior wood block has 26 holes that measure close to .8 inch in diameter,meaning the box was meant to take .75 caliber rounds. While there were capturedBritish and later import arms of that caliber in use here after the Revolution, thevast number of French .69 caliber muskets brought in during the war dictated theirdominant later use by the regular army and militia and as patterns for later USproduction muskets. The holes are arranged in a standard 9-8-9 configuration,which suggests the 1808 pattern boxes, but in this case the bottom of the box isrounded, with no tin, suggesting a space for gun tools, flints and rags has been leftbelow the block, much like the Revolutionary War American 'bag boxes,' though ofa neater configuration. The side panels of the box have rounded tops and bottoms toaccommodate the upper curve of the flap and the bottom of the box.The box is brown leather, with very good surface, having just minor rubs. The outerflap embossed. A vertical line runs down either side about 1 inch from the edge. Twohorizontal lines run across the middle of the box to meet them, a little over an inchapart. Along the upper edge of the lower line are five impressed diamonds about5/8 inch tall that consist of smaller stamped diamonds. Where the bottoms of thesetouch the lower line, a slanting line angles left and right to the bottom edge of thebox, the lines from neighboring diamonds crossing one another just above the loweredge of the flap to form large Xs, at the intersections of which more of the largerdiamonds are impressed.A latch tab is crudely sewn to the inside of the flap. The base of a leather thong thatlikely held a small leather button is visible on the underside of the box. Two verticalbelt loops are sewn on the back of the box for wear on a waist belt, but emptystitching holes on them and on the upper back of the box show that they wereretaining straps for a shoulder belt. On the lower front of the box are other stitchingholes showing that chapes holding buckles for the shoulder belt were originallysewn there, the sling passing partly under the box.The interior of the flap some writing in large black ink or paint. The writing closestto the block seems to be a set of initials. Along the edge of the flap is '1862,' likelythe date at which a descendant of the original owner acquired it or perhaps thoughtof using it again in a Civil War homeguard unit.This is a very interesting box in very good condition. The embossing is artistic andquite obvious. The construction is unusual. And, the accommodation of .75 caliberammunition strikes me as quite early, possibly as far back as the Revolution.