Old Painted Slide Top Box with Mountain, Trees, and Bunch of 19th C. Letters Inside vintage modernist jewelry with its graphic black cut-out

with its graphic black cut-out appearance

12" long x 13 1/2" tall x 3/4" thick

Closed case measures 4 7/8" x 4 1/16" x 15/16"

with a truly wonderful patina and a nice sturdiness and weight for its size

as he looks to be holding a real gun

Old Painted Slide Top Box with Mountain, Trees, and Bunch of 19th C. Letters Inside vintage modernist jewelry with its graphic black cut-outThe mountain dotted with trees and crescent moon in blue sky painted on one side of it is what drew me to this old box, but the paint on the rest of it, and especially the stack of handwritten correspondence inside dating back to the 1850s, sealed the deal! More about the letters below, but first the box, I'd guess painted early 1900s so. The mountain and trees are a bit dark, clearly meant to be a moonlight view, but are very readable, as is a second