snake-in-a-box

Snake-in-a-box. Thick walled wooden box with a sliding lid, the opening of which causes a carved wooden snake with a sharp pointed iron tongue to swing out, catching the hand. One side has a leaf and flower design applied to it in wood. There is an inscription on the reverse, written in indelible pencil: 'J.C. de Lange/ [Krygsgevangen] / Bellevue Camp / 20.12.1900', and there is a stamp bemeath this reading 'Bellevue Censor Prisoners of War'. This box was made by a Boer prisoner of war held by the British at the Bellevue camp during the Anglo-Boer War.

object
MUSEUM NUMBER
1969.45
Date
1900-12-20
PLACE
COLLECTION
MATERIAL/TECHNIQUE
wood; iron
CATEGORY
Anthropology: Ethnography
LOCATION
In storage
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Collection Information

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