Auction pickups

[GreyGus]

Picked up this box of .31 cartridges and what was advertised as a tin of caps, actually primers. They came as a package, It was actually the cartridges I wanted. The box seems very well preserved. Real, or reproduction?

 

[Whitworth]

It looks so well preserved that I think it's a repo. Most 150+ year old cardboard looks far worse unless carefully stored in a museum. The bee's wax sealing the cartridge box would have become degraded and sticky. YMMV.

 

[Clark Badgett]

Paper cartridges were made on up into the late 1800s. The .31 Colt was the best selling Colt until 1873, and people still used them unless they had need for something more modern. I’m voting original, and the wax is probably paraffin wax.