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An Early 19th C solid mahogany Captains
writing box with elaborate secret compartments screw-down mechanism and historical
associations.
Please click on images to enlarge View images as slide
show
Reference: wb 104
Description:
An Early 19th C solid Mahogany writing box with elaborate and
unusual secret compartments screw-down mechanism and historical associations.
Origin: English/Irish
Circa:1810
Materials: Mahogany
Brass
Size: 51 cm by 30 cm by 20.5 cm: 20.1 inches by 11.8 inches
by 8.1 inches.
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The top has a brass plate inscribed "Colonel L'Estrange K.C.M"
The L'Estranges are an old established Anglo-Irish family. They first
came to Ireland with Earl Strongbow in A.D. 1149 and married the
daughter of the last king of Ireland Rory O'Connor.
See www.asiawrite.co.nz/lestrange/
library/ireland.html
Condition: The wood is
well patinated. The leather writing surface has been replaced. There are
marks and scuff consistent with the life of a well used box. It has a
working lick and key.
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See : https://williamgray101.wordpress.com/
tag/lieutenant-colonel-guy-lestrange/
"The 15th Hussars formed themselves
into a line stretching across the eastern end of St Peter’s Field, and
charged into the crowd. At about the same time the Cheshire Yeomanry
charged from the southern edge of the field.
"At first the crowd had some
difficulty in dispersing, as the main exit route into Peter Street was
blocked by the 88th Regiment of Foot, standing with bayonets fixed. One
officer of the 15th Hussars was heard trying to restrain the, by now out
of control, Manchester and Salford Yeomanry, who were “cutting at
every one they could reach”: “For shame! For shame! Gentlemen:
forbear, forbear! The people cannot get away!”
"By 2:00pm the crowd had been
dispersed, leaving eleven dead and more than six hundred injured."
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The Peterloo
Massacre resulted when yeomanry were discharged on the people.
" In the next few minutes
eleven people were killed and about 400, including 100 women, were
wounded"
Manchester Observer on
23rd October 1819:
"Lieutenant-Colonel
L'Estrange, the able, intelligent, and active officer who commanded the
whole and made all the necessary arrangements for the occasion "
See also: https://spartacus-educational.com/PRestrange.htm
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Please click on images to enlarge
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Front view: the box has a
working lock and key. It is of dovetail construction and has brass
corners and straps fitted to hold it together in extreme
conditions.
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Please click on images to enlarge
Back view:
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Please click on images to enlarge
Please click on images to enlarge
The side of the box is thinner
than is unusual in screw down captains boxes. The screws and the key for
screwing them are no longer present.
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The box has two contemporary
inkwells.
The mahogany pentray is period, but it was clearly an afterthought as
there is a mark in the wood which shows an earlier division of the
chamber.
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Please click on images to enlarge
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The maroon leather writing
surface is a replacement
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And into the secrets: The
cross division and one of the edges spring out and then the entire lower
panel. Almost half is secret compartment!
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The cross division is
released by pressing on the wood in front of it!
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I will show the process
to whoever buys the box. I find it difficult to describe. The panel is
held in place by the cross pieces of wood. The long facing comes
out. To enable this the side gives way. I need more pictures!
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Please click on images to enlarge
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The Long cross division
also comes out.
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The box has a sprung false
bottom. The two mortises are for the cross member which hold the panel
in place. The floor of the box is beach.
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There is yet another secret layer.
The panel under the pen ink compartments is also sprung.
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Two beach drawers with
mahogany fronts of dovetail construction are concealed behind the
panel.
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Please click on images to enlarge
All text and images and linked images are ©
1999-2019 Antigone Clarke and Joseph O'Kelly. If you require any further
information on permitted use, or a licence to republish any material, email us
at copyright@hygra.com
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