This is a C1840-60 Antique New England Pantry Box in Dark Mustard Milk Paint. This is a most wonderful hard to find color with an all original milk painted surface. The milk paint is old, authentic and original to the box with an untouched original surface nice and dry and dull. It measures 12 1/4" diameter and 7" high.

This box has heavy stock construction, an age split to the lid from shrinkage (lid not loose), has a clean interior, has lots of brush strokes that I like to see, very old square nail construction where no wooden pegs were used, an old section to the lid top is missing a common thing on early pantry boxes, and the paint is in a nice dull dry surface. There is a an earlier green milk paint under the lid paint, and the finger to the lid is rounded. There are two places to the base where pieces of the wood and the nails are missing to the base edge with just a little play to the base there (with the base still very sturdy). The nails are very early with iron oxidation around the nails as it should be. The inside of the lid is signed JA carved into the wood and also in bittersweet paint.

I found this box in Maine many years ago.