Tea Caddy

I think I have a late 18th c. / early 19th c. tea caddy.

I bought a small wooden box on Ebay to house my WWI sewing tools. At Historic Deerfield on Tuesday, I saw a very similar box, which started me wondering. Doing a little googling, I turned up this.

The caddy I have looks an awful lot like this one from 1790, with a brass escutcheon and a smaller handle at the top. The interior of mine has been stripped of any tea-related fittings, and a velvet pincushion was glued to the top by a previous owner. It also has had felt glued to the bottom. The box is made of a pale wood with a mahogany veneer and a lighter colored trim, possibly boxwood, as accents. The interior dividers are in the right places for a tea caddy. I'll post pics tomorrow, when I have some good daylight to take photos by.

Given its rough shape (much of the lighter accent wood is missing), I don't think it has a great deal of value. Still, I may think twice about taking it to reenacting events, and will see if I can find something else to use for my sewing tools.