Box restored

3 August 2020
Box owned by John Rae

This beautiful round box belonged to John Rae when he was working for Hudson’s Bay Company. It was kindly given to The John Rae Society by one of his great, great, grand nieces, Jane Hamilton. 

The box was in pieces following an accident some years ago.

Restored to museum standard by Elizabeth Watt, Thistle Street, Aberdeen.

It is now a treasured possession of ours and will be exhibited at some time for public view. We are told that it is made from argillite, a stone perhaps related to jet. It is hand turned, but we do not really know it’s exact purpose but it looks like it might have contained seals – as in, wax seals for sealing letters and documents?

This is a valuable addition to our growing collection of artifacts relating to John Rae, The Arctic and The Hall of Clestrain.

Photos by John Welburn

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