Polly Este's Rewards of Merit, Southborough, MA, 1827! wooden inlaid box There are a couple of

There are a couple of small dings/cracks to the gold painted inner frame on the front

Surely done by a Yankees obsessed adolescent boy in 1921

some toning

And then these four lovely fat roses surrounding her like a partial halo

with the interplay of the engraving and the coloration making them feel both unusual and really rather exquisite

Polly Este's Rewards of Merit, Southborough, MA, 1827! wooden inlaid box There are a couple ofIt's a rare day that I come across a reward of merit or three as early as these, and even less frequently do I come across an entirely handmade one. Clearly Polly Este, or someone who loved her, was proud of her accomplishments, managing to keep these safe and sound and together for just about 200 years. I have a definitive record for Polly, born Aug. 30, 1818 in Southborough, Massachusetts, daughter of Solomon Este. She married Henry Sumner Wheeler