A travelling box is a portable wooden or leather case fitted to hold the toiletries, writing materials or other personal equipment needed on a journey. The term covers a range of forms, including dressing cases, writing slopes, combined vanity and writing boxes, and fitted cases for cutlery, medicine, drawing instruments or sewing.
Travelling boxes were most popular from the late eighteenth century to the early twentieth century, when travel by coach, rail and ship, together with military and colonial service, created demand for compact, well-organised luggage. The finest English examples are veneered in rosewood, coromandel or mahogany, bound with flush brass corners and fitted with cut-glass bottles and jars with silver or silver-gilt tops, ivory brushes and secret drawers. Retailers and makers often stamped their names on the lock or lid. Collectors look for complete original fittings, hallmarked silver, good quality locks and keys, and well-preserved interiors with original lining fabric and leather. Missing bottles and replacement fittings reduce value considerably. Today these boxes are prized as decorative objects for desks, dressing tables and libraries as well as for their ingenious construction.
