Up for auction is this Antique A. J. Tafel Homeopathic Medicine Box. This is only the box itself. All of the original medicines and the rack to hold them are long gone. We know from the label inside the top that this was an A.J. Tafel Homeopathic Pharmacy. According to the label, it originally contained 96 medicines ranging from Muriatic Acid to Zincum Metallic. 

The box measures about 10¼ by 7¼ by 3¼ inches. It's is made of mahogany and is very good condition with most of its original finish intact. It has a lock, but no key. The lock escutcheon is a brass oval, and an identical brass oval appears in the top, where it could have been engraved with the owner's initials, but never was. The hinges are in good condition.

As you might expect, it has some scratches and minor gouges from more than a century of use. It's also has the "fossilized" remnants of a couple of masking tape strips that someone once used to seal the box closed. I can't figure out how to remove the strips, without messing up the original finish, so I left them in place.

This box came from the company's 125 South Eleventh St. branch in Philadelphia. According to the label the company also had branches in New York, Baltimore and San Francisco. The box likely was made sometime before 1914, because by that time the company had eleven branches. You can learn quite a bit of interesting history about the company and its founder by Googling A.J. Tafel.

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