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And then it hit me! Perhaps those possibly missing trays had holes bored through them to hold shells. Then the weight would be on the ledgers and not the bottom boards.

If it were a cartridge box, there would be cartridge marks on the underside of the lid and trade label. I see nothing like that.

I was thinking a cartridge box as well. But after an internet search, I don’t think that’s what the box is. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything like it. I did find this example of a cartridge box.

Obviously, the box is simply an early version of this:



Way back when, many items were packed and shipped in wooden boxes that would be considered too costly, too wasteful, and too labor intensive today. Guys could order guns through the mail, and they would be shipped direct from the factory or dealer in a wooden box. Milk and soda pop was delivered in wooden crates. Fruit and other produce came in wooden boxes. I keep some of my chisels and checkering tools in wooden cigar boxes that were fairly well made, and cost only a buck or two.

I suppose that someday in the future, if guns and forums like this still exist, someone may post a Thread here to speculate what might have been shipped in this Amazon box. It probably wasn't a gun, because the box is not lost or damaged beyond recognition.

Now, that's a cartridge box, Dave. I wonder if the oak box smells of tobacco. Lots of makers had backgrounds other than firearms.

I believe the pieces you are seeing are simply there to hold the center divider in place, without having to cut a rabbet in the front and back.



(HistoricBore, you can see that I can fit 7 shells if they are alternating. Not so if they are all heads or tails up.)

There are also screws on the front and back faces to keep the divider from falling out:



[url=https://ibb.co/LvYbKsG]]


I see no signs of other partitions and I don't think it's nearly big enough to hold pistols, unless they were very small.

I don't think I've ever seen a shipping box with an inlayed lock, although there's no denying that we've traded wood and iron for cardboard and plastic in the century since this box was made

Some more interesting things re: the joinery for the woodworkers in the group or the simply interested among us:

The sides are joined by classic, British-style dovetails with wide tails and tiny pins



The top is made of two boards joined by narrow /thin board on each side running in a rabbet (rebate in Brit-speak)




And the bottom is simply nailed on with what appear to be headless, cut brad nails.

The close ups are interesting.

Now, I'm betting that the glued in, rabbeted lid ends are later repairs for the drying splint? The grain on the lid end cross strips seems to have come from newer growth wood, might even be able to see later glue smears on the underside of the lid. The sides of the topside have some taper, but not the front, maybe made by a cabinet maker, used to making panels, drawer bottom style.

No plane marks anywhere, so maybe it fits the era that you noted. While it has hand cut dovetails, they never really look "fine", and the close up kind of looks like it might lean towards utilitarian construction, rather than best effort? Still, neat subject piece.

98 12 bore (7x7 x 2) seems to be an odd number to ship. Would it take 10 20 bore per side so a box of 200?