I recently bought this item for myself for my 50th birthday while in Tasmania. A writing compendium, in this case, is somewhere to store your inks, pen and other writing material. Its in good condition, the top is very slightly warped but it locks fine if you press the centre of the lid when turning the key. The key I got with it isnt the original, but thats nothing new with Victorian period boxes like this as the key always got lost.
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Nice, did you get to Evandale ?
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What does make this item very interesting is that it has writing in pencil in 3 different places.
Firstly, it has writing on the bottom of the draw. This is the clearest writing and I have managed to decipher some of it.
What I have deciphered is the following :
" In remembrance of Alfred Blackman Rolvenden Kent May 11(?) 1822 "
On this page listing burials at Rolvenden Kent, , listing number 30 has a mention of an Alfred Blackman as a son of the deceased. I have also come across some information that suggests a Blackman from Rolvenden Kent did emigrate to Australia, so it is possible that's how this item ended up in Tasmania. But I have only done some very brief research so far, so if I find out more I will post here about it. The second place that has writing is the bottom of the removable floor when you open the lid.
This the base of the box. Its not a good picture, but shows whats there. I will have to get in there with some good lighting.
So now I will probably drive myself nuts trying to decipher it
ol' boy (12-07-17)
Under the in remebererance of Alfred Black looks like the name Roland W Kew or the phrase rolendew kew. Either way this is a great historical find.
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It will be exciting to eventually discover the provenance of this device, Can we get some piccies of the inside? It looks like a fantastic find.
I'm out of my mind, but feel free to leave a message...
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