R & M Pell's 1841 Wallpapered Draughts Box from the Duke of Grafton drawing instruction and sort of a whitewash

and sort of a whitewash stain over the wood

with one very tiny barely there sailing ship in the far distance at right in addition to the one nearer afield at left

Austria in 1928

These wooden animals--dogs

R & M Pell's 1841 Wallpapered Draughts Box from the Duke of Grafton drawing instruction and sort of a whitewashYou know I love beautiful handwriting, and old wooden boxes, and antique draughts (checkers) too, so of course I fell for this one, which appears to have been a gift from the Duke of Grafton (in the southeast of Northhamptinshire, England) to an R & M Pell in 1841. There appears to be a hand written note to the Pells on the blue papered top, perhaps from the Duke himself, who one imagines sent these along as a gift, and in which the word "friend" is