 |
The Mexican Queen
|
$185 |
The top of this box is made of book-matched pieces of bocote, which is sometimes called Mexican Rosewood. It’s a hard, heavy, oily wood from Central America, very nice to work. And its colors are impossibly delicate.
The
box is anigre; the ebony handle is attached with a floating tenon, mortised
into the handle on one side and wedged (maple) through the top on the other.
If you’ve noticed that the handle is not in the center of the top, you’re right. It isn’t.
If you've noticed that the top is not perfectly flat, you're right. It isn't.
See these comments.
As for the name, that has to do with the movie “African Queen”, which starred
Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn (a great film!).
The African Queen is a pathetic little steamboat sailing a wild jungle
river during World War I. There's low comedy - Bogart's a drunk, Hepburn's a
prude, high adventure - a plot to sink a German battleship -and wonderful
dialogue:
“I now pronounce you man and wife. Proceed with the execution”…
