TOPIC:

Kaapse Rebel, the use of coloured or light stones is not entirely unusual. It is occasionally found among POW carved artwork, especially from the camp Kakool (Kakul), a small camp set up in the last months of the war near Abbottabad in nowadays Pakistan.

The small (4 by 3 cm) ZAR carved crest shown below is made from a multi-coloured stone and, although it does not bear any inscription at the back, it was among items brought back from Kakool by POW Daniel Abraham Ras.

A beautiful piece. Thank you. There are some similarities between some of the Kakool bibles and the one under question, so it could indeed be from there.

KR, you may have this, but if not I certainly recommend it. It's under R400.
Rob

Kaapse Rebel wrote: I saw this piece recently, and wondered whether it could be a ABW P.O.W art piece? The design and style in which it is engraved is quite similar to other examples I have seen with known Boer War provenance. I find that the stone from which the piece is made quite strange, as I am yet to see a P.O.W artwork made from similarly ligh-coloured stone. I believe the letters engraved on the one side to be A,B,R, A and L, however the last A and L could also be a H. The age related wear on the piece does make it appear to be old enough for the era.

-Thank you

J.I.W

..

FWIW, I read the initials as ABRH. So perhaps someone named A.B.R. Hanekom or A.B.R. Havenga or ...

I am yet to purchase a copies of Vicky Heunis's book, but I'm going to get it soon

I tried to identify the kind of stone from which the bible was made, and made use of ChatGPT, which identified it as soapstone, a type of stone found commonly in India. After this, I googled where Soapstone is mined in India and crossed checked these areas with the locations of Boer War POW camps. Soapstone would have been available to POWs in the camps on Bellary and Bhimtal, so this bible could very likely originate from these camps, and therefore would a Boer war POW art piece.