Small oval wood boxes were used throughout the nineteenth century to store foodstuffs in the pantry, ladies’ sewing accessories and notions and small collectibles in general. Many of these boxes were formed with sides from a single thin “band” of wood with shaped “fingers” at one end. These fingers overlapped the opposite end of the band to which they were joined with copper, iron or brass tacks, thus forming the box. The box lid is similarly constructed, usually with a one-finger lap join.

Today’s collectors refer to these boxes by the number of fingers forming the lap join, i.e. a two-finger box, a three-finger box, etc. On occasion confusion arises as to whether to include the lid fingers in this short-hand count reference. p4A.com has consulted with the box makers and the director of Canterbury Shaker Village restoration on this point and determined that the universal standard is to count the fingers on the box only (not including the lid) in making this reference. Thus a three-finger box would have three fingers on the bottom portion of the box and one finger on the lid. In practice the lid covers one of the lower box fingers and only three fingers “show” so the visual result is the same.

The Shakers produced five chair types: the rolled arm, scrolled arm, back with cross rail, front upright with mushroom turned upper ends and the armless sewing rocker. Chair backs are slat back in form. Seats made of rush, splint woven, woven tape or caned. Upholstery was not used, except in very late examples. Shaker chairs were made of a variety of woods, with maple being the most commonly found. Sometimes with multiple woods were used for various parts of a single chair. These would include ash, hickory, birch, cherry and various local fruitwoods and softwoods.

Shaker crafts were the product of the United Society of Believers – the Shakers – who lived in twenty “communities” throughout the northeast and mid-west. Shakers were active from about 1790 to 1900, with most of their crafts produced in the 1820 to 1870 period. Shaker wares are characterized by simple, plain design. They feature severe lines, minimal ornamentation and very high craftsmanship. The Shakers believed that outward appearances should reflect the harmonious inner spirit they sought to achieve in their own lives, and this is nowhere more apparent than in their handcrafted furniture, boxes and crafts.