Several times throughout any given year I am asked to make blank books with cut-outs to hold engagement rings.  This customer wanted me to make a box to hold the engagement ring.  We decided that it would be nice if this box could be used to hold keepsakes, letters, etc. after the engagement, so I made a box with a removeable insert for the ring container.  The insert could be taken out which made this into a regular clamshell box.  My customer requested a dark brown box with a very "traditional-looking" book-like spine with raised cords and stamped decoration.  He wanted the front to have a blue palm tree on it with the names of he and his fiancee "carved inside a heart" on the trunk.  This box is made largely of dark brown goatskin leather with eggshell linen book cloth on the edges (giving it more of a "book" look with a leather cover and white "pages" inside).  The raised palm tree is covered with a special-order electric blue goatskin that was pared down thin enough by hand to neatly cover the palm tree shape.  The trunk of the tree has a small stamped silver design (it was necessary to order a die for this).  You can see in the series of photos below how the box opens to reveal the ring box and then the insert can be removed to create a regular clamshell box.

A box like this would cost around $385 plus the cost of the custom die for the names on the tree trunk which cost around $50.

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