From the wall to the box

The seam you see here is the result of the use of wallpaper for decorating the box. Using colored block-printed wallpaper for decoration was a common practice at the time. Even though the industrial revolution was in full swing, the printing industry still used the traditional, centuries-old European technique of woodblock printing for decorative paper, including wallpaper. This box is extra special because it was produced around 1830, the decade that marked the end of producing woodblock-printed wallpaper: in 1839 the first mechanical wallpaper printing machine was patented.

Coincidentally, the 1830s also saw the highest interest in bandboxes, which were often decorated. Using wallpaper for decoration made the bandboxes more colorful and therefore more attractive to customers. By the 19th century, however, these boxes came in many different sizes and were no longer used for storing collars…