Puzzle box
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A puzzle box (also called a trick box) is a box which can only be opened by a non-obvious and sometimes complicated series of manipulations. Sometimes, a simple squeeze at the right spot will do the trick. On the other hand, sometimes many movements of small pieces are necessary for the box to open. Hence some puzzle boxes are closely related to burr puzzles.
Jewelry used to be kept in trick boxes so that a potential thief would have problems seeing and stealing the contents. Puzzle boxes have been crafted all over the world, including Morocco, Poland and South America. By far the most intricate and beautiful is the Japanese puzzle box, covered in complicated patterns of rich wood inlay called Yosegi and featuring complex mechanisms to open them. At first glance they appear smooth and without any opening, but some boxes take up to 60 movements to solve.
