Hungry Land 2
For some reason I set about making an even more complicated book & box set of this book as a gift for the author. The book cover is basically the same design as Hungry Land #1, except that the moss agates are on the book cover (they also have holes behind them so the agates glow if you open the cover and hold it up to the light), and the box is completely different. The custom clamshell box has a raised fish scale design. The box is covered with a cranberry-colored pigskin leather (the edges of the box are burgundy vellum bookcloth) and there are three inset brown leather "petals" for some of the scales. These petals were real pieces from Lucy Lawless' main hero costume on the Xena television series. The box has a compass point design stamped in copper foil on the back. The box has a copper fishhook closure that slides in a copper tube to open and close. The hook itself was hammered and shaped from copper wire. Instead of a scroll on spindles, this box has a mounted copper tube (the mounting brackets were also hammered and shaped from copper wire). When the endcaps of the tube are removed, you can access and unroll the long colophon scroll. Once the tube is in the brackets attached to the box with the endcaps on, it is securely fastened to the box edge.
Below are photos showing how to open the box and the copper tube containing the colophon scroll.
A piece like this could cost $900 or more.