With some sheet metal equipment, this is a snap to make - layout the whole thing on a single sheet of copper, cut out the corners, fold on a brake and solder or rivet the four corners of the sides. If you don't have a brake, then it gets a bit more difficult, but not much. You can make the bends using two pieces of flat bar clamped together and a pair of sheet metal Vise Grips, or just carefully work the bends over the corner of a block of steel or even hardwood with a mallet.

Copper rivets are available already headed. Check out JayCee Sales online at http://www.rivetsinstock.com for the size you want.  For setting the rivets, you'll need a header and a bucking bar if you want them to come out perfectly formed.  For your project, you'd need to put the rivets through from the inside and then head them on the outside where you can reach them.  The bucking bar can be nothing more than a piece of heavy barstock with a depression drilled in it to index the head of the rivet, clamped in a vise so you can slip the box assembly over it.

Check out some of the metal working forums that the auto body and hot rod guys frequent for lots of good tips on working with sheet metal.  Try a Google search for "sheet metal fabrication" or some such to find tips and ideas.

Can't disagree with Rich there..but if you haven't got "the Complete Metalsmith" by Tim McCreight, It's very good on this kind of stuff and very easy to follow. Also It's still in print as far as I know, and doesn't command the daft prices some metalworking books seem to attract.
Incidentally Rich - I got hold of that D.Streeter book you mentioned re: hinges. Had forgotten what a good book it was!Will Jones, www.ironwill.org.uk

I agree that the ways mentioned would work but I would go about it differently. I would bend the side strip around a former and then, if I wanted sharp corners, file almost all the way through using a square needle file. I would run a solder seam down each one. You can make tube rivits which don't take much force to bend or you could solder a wire of the proper lenght and gage to the inside, put it through the outside hole and then pein it. The Complete Metalsmith does an excellent job of explaining things like this.

marilyn

Alternate way you can get the look of a riveted box:

cut out the four sides for your box. Go ahead and texture/debur/buff.

cut out four strips of copper 1/2" - 3/4" wide and 1/2" shorter than the height of your box.

fold these strips in half to make your corners.

find a punch about the size of the rivet head you want to make.

emboss the rivet heads into the strips from the inside of the corner strips over a wooden block. Anternatively if you have a plier type punching tool you can unscrew the anvil of the punch so that it doesn't quite punch through the copper strip. This method gives very consistent results and leaves a small dimple in the middle of the fake rivet head.

The strips are soldered to the outside of the box so that the strip is flush with the lower edge of the sides.

When you make the lid, it will rest on the top edge of the corner strips.

This looks particularly good if you use a different metal for the corner strips than the metal used for the sides of the box.

Ray