This is not just an ordinary box! It belonged to Elaine's Grandfather and was passed down from his ancestors . It is a plain box, with handmade dove tailed joints and a sliding lid. Apparently, way back in time, it was a common thing for sailors to make these while at sea. I don't know what type of wood.
Inside the box, things get interesting There is a clove box, also made by a sailor. These are individual cloves, sewn together. Whatever was used for thread is so fine, I can`t make it out. The odour of cloves is still very strong.
Inside the inside box are several very interesting items. Below is a sock that was maybe stolen from King George iv. It is made of very fine silk. If so, this could be from the mid 1800`s
Also there is a chain and a piece of coral indicating that the sailor may have been to the tropics. I wish I had the name of the ship, or the sailor.
Most interesting is the pigtail of a Chinaman. Apparently, theft aboard ship was not a thing to allow. The crew apparently found him out and cut off his pigtail before they murdered him so that he could not move on to the promised land. Interesting, but gross! The letter states there was a medal from the time of George iv, but, unfortunately it is missing.
Here is a close up of a section of the lid. This would take a lot of time to do. I would assume that the ship was on a spice run to the orient.
Here is a copy of the document found in the box. Hard to read!
