I've got a special weakness for old pencil boxes--like antique school slates, the wooden frames of which often bear the carved initials of their onetime owners, so do pencil boxes tend to carry the traces of their users in a wonderfully intimate way. Which is very much the case with this very primitive one, found in Upstate New York, with HA  emphatically carved into the face of the top, and then Howard, in cursive, inside, twice. And happily Howard had the presence of mind to record the year, 1864--an eventful one in the life of the country and surely in young Howard's life too! 

7 7/8 x 2 1/2 x 1 3/8” t. Much used, all to the good Hinges holding well, box closes square and flush but no catch. Dividing slat on one side of the interior long gone.Better in person, very sweet.