Lovely 19th Century Handmade Book-Shaped Candy Box, Hand-painted Paper and Velvet Over Board cast iron scale weight with mother of pearl inlay

with mother of pearl inlay punctuated by a pattern of brass pique nails

and for me at least it carries a very different sort of weight

but I've turned up a few related child sized examples out there

With their metal posts

and elegant long neck

Lovely 19th Century Handmade Book-Shaped Candy Box, Hand-painted Paper and Velvet Over Board cast iron scale weight with mother of pearl inlayThis I believe was made as a bonbon box, with the padded interior compartment framed with paper lace. (Those doily lined Russell Stover Valentine's chocolate boxes didn't come out of nowhere!) Of course I love it for its book form, and especially that hand hand printed checkerboard patterned paper across the front (with the patterns on those tiny squares evincing pressed seamoss), perfectly bordered in embossed silver and green trim. More silver trim