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An unusual item from the Boer War is this money collection box, formerly part of the Kenneth Griffith collection. This box (27 x 13 x 13 cm) was constructed from simple pine planks, without regard to aesthetics and by the looks of it by an unskilled craftsman. The text is in Dutch “Aan de Dappere Strijders Voor (D?)en Vrijheid” which translates as: To the brave fighters for Freedom. The lid features a donation slot as well as the years “1899” and “1900”.



The back of the box has two inverted keyholes indicating it was hung in a church or other place where one could make a donation for the Boers in the field. The box could have been used in South Africa (including Natal and the Cape Colony where there were many (Church) communities of Dutch speakers), the Netherlands /Flandres or even in the POW camps. A few remarks about the text: In pure Dutch of the day, it would have read “Den” Dappere instead of “De” Dappere. De “en vrijheid” could have been a spelling error (“Den Vrijheid”) or perhaps de full text the carver had planned was “Voor Recht en Vrijheid” and he simply ran out of space. Furthermore the “ij” in the words Strijders en Vrijheid is oddly spelled with a lower case “i” followed by an upper case “J”. This, combined with the amateurish construction, simple materials and the fact that in Holland the word “Boers” would probably have figured in the text, seems to suggest that this box was made and used in South Africa.