What is a Curio Box?
In Victorian and Edwardian times, gentlemen of leisure would collect ‘curiosities’, which they would display in their ‘cabinet of curiosities’. This might be a simple cabinet or a whole room. Shrunken heads, native weapons, pickled two-headed frogs, all might be of interest to the gentleman scholar. Other types of displayables, such as wax flowers, mourning jewelry made of the hair of a deceased loved one, or stuffed small animals such as owls, might be displayed under a glass bell jar. Today’s collector needs a curio box. A curio is a knick-knack, a gew-gaw or a bric-a-brac. Collectibles such as fancy thimbles, watch fobs and tiny souvenir teaspoons all qualify as a curio. The word curio itself is from curiosity and implies something curious and interesting. A curio box is typically a small display for hanging on a wall or standing on a table, with many little compartments for organizing and displaying one’s small knick-knacks. It is similar to a shadow-box, a glass-fronted box-like f
