Wooden lace bobbin and topped with large, round nut.

Collection type: Object
Description: Wooden lace bobbin and topped with large, round nut.
Geographical reference: South America
Latin America and the Caribbean > South America; Amazonia
Person: Field collector Richard Spruce; PRM source Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; PRM source Frank Norman Howes
Date / Period: Date made: Before 1851
Date collected: By 1851
Acquisition information: Donated: 1961
Materials and processes: Material Wood Plant, Material Plant Fruit, Process Carved
Dimensions: Length: max 204 mm box, Length: max 143 mm
Object numbers: Accession number: 1961.7.56.7
Research and responses: This object is one of many collected by Richard Spruce and sent to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in 1851. It is recorded in Kew’s accession register with the description “Birros, used on the Amazon in making cushion lace. Seven of them are of the fruit of the Tucarná Palm, the other five of the fruit of the Mucajá palm, four of the latter being polished by rubbing them with a stone” and annotated “Sent to Pitt Rivers Museum 27.1.1961”. A copy of the Kew register can be found in RDF and also online (https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/274711#page/96/mode/1up).

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