R & M Pell's 1841 Wallpapered Draughts Box from the Duke of Grafton drawing instruction folk thing

folk thing

and is in perfect shape to ink and stamp all sorts of things

on the back

Austria in 1928

though unmarked

R & M Pell's 1841 Wallpapered Draughts Box from the Duke of Grafton drawing instruction folk thingYou know I love beautiful handwriting, and old wooden boxes, and antique draughts (checkers) too, so of course I fell for this one, which appears to have been a gift from the Duke of Grafton (in the southeast of Northhamptinshire, England) to an R & M Pell in 1841. There appears to be a hand written note to the Pells on the blue papered top, perhaps from the Duke himself, who one imagines sent these along as a gift, and in which the word "friend" is