Care for an esoteric unboxing? C'mon, what else you got cookin'?
Weiss
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This arrived just now after a 5-week wait...
Well? Any guesses? No? So how cool is this...?
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This is a custom made box by award winning woodworker / artisan Edward Jacob. I came across his work when I was researching off-the-rack boxes for a particular piece of my collection that was living in a cardboard box.
I reached out to Edward and asked if he had other examples of the box I'd seen online at a gallery in New York. We discussed what I was looking for, then he offered to create a custom piece with all of the particulars I was after. We pulled bits and pieces from some of his other works, he offered suggestions, and we landed on this design, a modification of an existing form of his.
It's an Asian-influenced presentation box in cherry and wenge (an African hardwood), with brass pins. I wanted the cantilevered look with the exposed tenons (we collect Prairie School furniture which shares these elements). We borrowed the handle form from one of his other designs because it mimics what this box was designed to hold: My Nguyen Dynasty Annam (Vietnam) 24 "Lang" bar, circa 1880. You might recall it from the thread posted back in February:
The box was painstakingly made to the dimensions of this bar, of a scale suitable for its presentation.
What do you think? Does it need a green or gold CAC sticker? 
Edward's site, if anyone is interested in exploring a custom presentation box for those unusual pieces in your collection. PS--he does small chests of drawers, too!
--Severian the Lame
Comments
OMG!
I love your dedication, the execution, the details, artistry and the bar.
Love the green pot on the left. Grueby?
A: The year they spend more on their library than their coin collection.
A numismatist is judged more on the content of their library than the content of their cabinet.
Thank you, Sir! I get credit for writing the check
For all its history and interest, without a suitable holder the bar is just a lump of silver with a couple of neat marks. The box lends a bit of importance and flair.
--Severian the Lame
I remember when you got that bar. I would say it certainly found a good home. Congrats.
Thanks! That's "just" an Ephraim Faience. We've got a half-dozen of their pieces:
https://ephraimpottery.com/
If I'd know there were arts & crafts pottery fans, I'd have posted it next to the Newcomb College instead
--Severian the Lame
That is very cool!!
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Beautiful Weiss. You seem to have a great flair for "framing" the pieces you collect.
But you got a piece of Roseville in the picture 🤔
Where’s the Rookwood?
A: The year they spend more on their library than their coin collection.
A numismatist is judged more on the content of their library than the content of their cabinet.
Beautiful idea, dude! If I had a similar bar, I'd do the same thing. Ever think of submerging the bar in EZEST? You know, might as well shine it up, right?
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--- If it should happen I die and leave this world and you want to remember me. Please only remember my opening Sig Line.That is very nice.
The quality craftsmanship shows. Simply beautiful!
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CoinsAreFun Toned Silver Eagle Proof Album
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Gallery Mint Museum, Ron Landis& Joe Rust, The beginnings of the Golden Dollar
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This is so freakin' cool!
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I love it! Wonderful craftsmanship. I would keep that forever.
Lance.
what is the purity of that bar? read the thread you linked and didn't see it mentioned there either
was going to go for some similar bars in a recent auction - they were not commanding melt which was super confusing until reaching out to auction house and finding that they contained very little actual elemental silver
beautiful piece - the bar and the box
Obviously one of my questions as well. It looks and feels correct. It's ex Opitz--the guy who literally wrote the book on these pieces. And there's this:
--Severian the Lame
Very cool bar and an even cooler wood box to keep it in.
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👨🍳🤌💢 chefs kiss
A custom presentation box for an interesting piece of silver.... I am not surprised @Weiss.... You do acquire excellent items and have a wide and varied field of interests. (I still watch for you to put up that silver mug for sale
). Cheers, RickO
very cool duo, i like
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Gorgeous piece! Wonderful!!
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Its been said before but ill say it again. Thats cool!
Gorgeous vessel for your bar. Reminds me that I have 2 really nice vases from Cholon. Peace Roy
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Weiss you certainly acquired your parents good taste in art. It's stunning.
I made a similar piece in junior high woodshop. It was a duck with a raised balsa wood back, to put pins into. The back of the head was an opening to the front of the duck's face. When you placed a pair of scissors into the hole, it appeared as though the front of the scissors were the duck's beak. I'll try to find a picture.
Fantastic collector's piece and container is absolutely beautiful.
Jim
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Classy yet still cool.
Very cool!
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My eye keeps getting caught on the dark spot in the grain. I understand as a professional woodworker often things like this “appear” as you round or shape wood. Overall, Nice, but I can’t help seeing that dark spot.
That's interesting. To my eye it's the nature of a natural wood product, like the raw edge or knots on a turned wooden bowl, or something along the lines of kintsukuroi--it is an Asian inspired design, after all, created to house an Asian artifact (and one far from flawless itself).
To me, much of its aesthetic appeal comes from the natural beauty of the wood--flaws and all. I wouldn't want something that looked mass produced or "perfect".
--Severian the Lame
Some of my favourite contemporary woodwork is done by the George Nakashima workshop in New Hope PA, and like you I appreciate the natural beauty of the wood, what some would view as a "flaw" I view as something that makes it interesting.
Ditto. I almost mentioned Nakashima. His work is often collected with arts & crafts / Prairie School because he shared so many of the aesthetics of those movements: unadorned high quality wood, exposed and even emphasized joinery. When we first started collecting, we had an opportunity to buy Nakashima at easily affordable prices. Unfortunately, we were after more core examples of period pieces and didn't have the money or room for associated pieces. Kicking myself now, of course: I see one of his rosewood tables listed on a website for...$400,000.
Examples of Nakashima for those not familiar, sadly not mine:
--Severian the Lame
How about discussing a cert with our host to be very tastefully (in some form) incorporated into the "holder".
perhaps in the bottom or back and the 2 brass post become 4 connected with a silver wire for the seal?
just spinning some ideas...
Absolutely... a super nice piece.