Brass-bound Writing Box, George III, 1800

• Circa - A Latin term meaning 'about', often used in the antique trade to give an approximate date for the piece, usually considered to be five years on either side of the circa year. Thus, circa 1900 means the piece was made about 1900, probably between 1895 and 1905. The expression is sometimes abbreviated to c.1900.
• George Iii - George III (1738 - 1820) was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1760 to 1820.
• Mahogany - Mahogany is a dense, close grained red-coloured timber from the West Indies and Central America. It was first imported into Europe in the the early 18th century and its use continued through the 19th century. It was popular for furniture making because of its strength, the wide boards available, the distinctive grain on some boards, termed flame mahogany and the rich warm colour of the timber when it was polished.. The "flame" was produced where a limb grew out from the trunk of the tree, and this timber was usually sliced into veneers for feature panels on doors, backs and cornices.
  
  Some terms used to describe mahogany relate to the country from which it originally came, such as "Cuban" mahogany, "Honduras" mahogany etc. However unless the wood has been tested the names assigned are more a selling feature, rather than a true indication of the timber's origin.
• Gold Tooled - Gold tooling on leather inlays in desks and other furniture and leather book bindings refers to the decorative process of embossing the leather with a design using gold leaf. The design is first traced onto the leather and then incised into the surface using a small blade. The incisions are then gilded with thin sheets of gold leaf. The gold leaf is burnished into the leather to create a raised, metallic design. The process is repeated until the entire design is covered in gold.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• boxes, material or decoration - mahogany boxes 242
• boxes, writing - writing boxes and slopes, mahogany 90