Pennsylvania German Decorated Chest
Monroe Fabian, in his outstanding book "The Pennsylvania-German Decorated Chest," says, "No form in the American decorative arts is more readily recognized for its aesthetic value and interest than the Pennsylvania-German chest."  Authentically built and decorated, clearly an outstanding American Folk Art example.  While there are some basic construction methods and techniques to authentically reproduce these wonderful boxes, there is a large variety of execution in box size, feet, moldings, the presence or absence of drawers, a variety of architectural features and certainly lots of options in the execution of the paint motifs.  Olde Mill has built and historically painted a variety of sizes and styles of the wonderful decorative form.  Painted Pine.

Painted Document Boxes
These boxes are clearly related to the Bible Box in design, just not as sacred in its purpose.  They were, however, very important boxes in their own right in that they often housed very important documents and probably legal tender.  They were as plain or as embellished as the owner could afford, thus a wide range of decoration.  These Document Boxes are authentically hand made in their construction and dovetailing.  Wooden pegs are used for assembly.  Material is poplar with historically correct paint materials used for embellishment.  Motifs used are from authentic Pennsylvania German artifacts, borrowed from wooden objects, pottery, fraktur and other sources.  Each one of these boxes is truly unique.  Each is individually constructed and painted and no two will ever be exactly the same.
H 3.3/4" W 14.3/4" D 10.5/8"   Depending on individual box.

Brides Boxes, Painted
These wooden boxes were highly valued by prospective brides to keepsake their most valuable possessions.  The glorious decorative painting signified marriage, good luck symbols and the like.  Sometimes the boxes were decorated with a man and a woman, sometimes animals, and even occasionally a gentleman on his horse.  Some appear serious while others have a sense of humor, at least to our modern eye.  These unusual boxes are not to be confused with Shaker Oval Boxes, which indeed have an oval shape.  Bride's Boxes have a "racetrack" shape.  This requires a thin piece of wood to be cut from the tree, smoothed by hand planing and steam-bent around a sized wooden mold.  Matching bands are also thus constructed and bent to specifically match the box.  The sides are then hand stitched with thin strips of rawhide sinew and the tops and bottoms, which also require a lot of preparation, are custom fit to each specific box with wooden pegs.  Next the box is painted with historically correct materials and the embellished decoration is applied.  Each of these boxes is individual and unique.  They are available only on a very limited basis due to the extreme amount of time required to correctly make the box and apply its decorative painted finish.  The motifs used to paint the surface are acquired from original Bride's Boxes as well as other boxes similar in shape and design.  The painted surfaces are absolutely exquisite and capture the essence of the original boxes.
Large       H 8.1/2" W 18.3/8" D 11.1/2"
Medium   H 7.1/4" W 15.1/2" D 10.1/4"
Small       H 5.3/8" W 11.1/2" D 7.1/4"