Brass case [Sailor's tobacco case]
Contains digital mediaDetails
Type of record: Archive
Title: Brass case [Sailor's tobacco case]
Classmark: BC MS ROM 1/8/5
Original reference: BC MS Rom 1/1204
Date(s): c.1729 -11/11/1942
Language: Dutch
Size and medium: 2 item
Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/505014
Collection group(s): Gypsy, Traveller and Roma Collections
Description
1) Brass case with with hinged lid, hinge of copper with white metal nails. The case is decorated with engravings of figures, writing and calendar numbers on lid and base.
On the lid: (1) Julius Caesar (legend “Voor Krist 45”); (2) (2) An unnamed papal/clerical figure (legend “1582”) [believed to be Pope Gregory XIII] ; base: (3) Unnamed figure (legend “1497”). Inscription at opposite end of base: “Die deese doos draagt in de sak Hoeft nooijt geen ander almanak” (Whoso carries this box in his pocket Needs no other almanack”. On front: “Regt Door Zee” (Straightforward); on back, inscription hidden by hinge (apparently a replacement).
2) Accompanying note with extract from the Graphic "A Gipsy Mystical Symbolic Fortune Telling Box," and manuscript note that reads "Purchased at the Red Cross depot, Pall Mall. S.W July 1916."
Physical characteristics
Measurement details: .Oblong with rounded ends; 17 x 5 cm. and 3 cm. deep.
Biography or history
This was believed to have been given by David Lee [Gypsy Traveller] and other Gypsies/Travellers to George Smith of Coalville on Plaistow Marshes in November 1888. However since the box became part of the collection, there has been some debate as to the uses of this box and the legitmacy of this story.
There was a suggestion that it may have been intended [see Tolson letter] (a) to assimilate the Julian and Gregorian systems, and (b) as a perpetual calendar. According to a cutting that accompanied it[seeThe graphic, 4 May 1889] it was at one time owned by Gypsies/Travellers and may have been used for fortune-telling.
The description in the (1962) Romany Catalogues suggested it possibly came from Low Countries, c.17th century.
Since then it has been found [2016] that there are other simliar boxes in museum collections around the world. According to their research and published papers, similar boxes have been identified as (Dutch) sailors tobacco boxes that were made in the German town of Iserlohn during the 18th century, and in this instance likely commissioned by the Reght Door Zee sailing School of Amsterdam.
According to these accounts the following has been suggested;- that the design on the top is a perpetual calendar with a picture of Julius Caesar and carry the date 45 BC, the introduction of the Julian Calendar. To the right is Pope Gregory which carries the date of the introduction of the Gregorian calendar 1582. The figure marked 1497 that was identified as Nicholaus Copernicus has more commonly being recognised as Amerigo Vespucci.The design on the bottom is a table to calculate a ships speed in knots.
Each box was apparently dated with the year it was made, this date can be found at the end of the bottom line of the perpetual calendar [1729].
There are discrepancies in the Graphic articles' description of the Lee Box [the drawing shows date as 1765 and a worn date of 1482 instead of 1582 that was apparently a mistake on a number of these boxes] suggesting that this may not be the box in question [despite being acquired as part of the collection for the significance of the story around it].
Provenance
According to the (1962) Romany Catalogue, this was originally accompanied by a cutting from The graphic, 4 May 1889 and Canon Irton Smith’s presentation note to Lionel Cresswell, “I. S. to L. C. Purchased at the Red Cross Depot Pall Mall S. W. July 1916”. Presented by Margaret Cresswell to Mrs McGrigor Phillips, 11 November 1942. [Please see related objects].
Access and usage
Reproduction
Access
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