A SMALL RED-PAINTED AND DECORATED TRINKET BOX

Although listed as a shoemaker in Fivepointville, Lancaster County, Jacob Weber is best known as the maker of a small group of decorated boxes and trinket trunks. This was most likely meant to supplement his income. In the ledger of Anna Weber (1796-1876), a seamstress living in West Earl Township, there are prices for boxes, as well as in the ledger of his father Abraham (1783-1850) which records the prices of twenty wooden objects. The prices ranged from four cents for a miniature chair to thirty cents for a larger miniature chest. For a further discussion of Weber and his family see Clark Hess, Mennonite Arts, (Atglen, Pennsylvania, 2002), pp. 66-69.