19th Century French Tole Painted Bait (Leurre) Box a record breaker and certainly with well more

and certainly with well more than a hundred years on it I have to think it has opened some letters bearing pretty sad news

To my eye such beautiful things

I have not documented every page but photos give a very good sense

Framed dimensions 20” x 16 3/4”

19th Century French Tole Painted Bait (Leurre) Box a record breaker and certainly with well moreI love the form of a old tin bait box, with straps on the curved side for wearing on a belt, but I'd never come across an antique French one like this, stencil painted in excellent red and silver, with "Leurre" (lure) arching above a charmer of a fish. With punched holes in the form of a cross on the flip up lid. 6" l x 3" d (measured on the square) x 2" t. Plenty worn and dinged, with paint loss especially to the edges of top, where it was clearly