Item number: X37

Year: AD 1924

Material: Brass

Size: 70 x 50 x 18 mm

Weight: 97 g

Provenance: Private Collector, UK, 2026

This is a Welsh brass miners’ combination tobacco or snuff box, dated 1924 and engraved to the reverse: “BEN THOMAS 43. YNYSCYNON. ST CWMBACH NR. ABERDARE 1924”.

The rectangular box is constructed in brass with a hinged lid and engraved decorative border to both front and back. The reverse bears the personalised inscription, providing the owner’s name and address at Ynyscynon Street, Cwmbach, near Aberdare, an important coal-mining district in South Wales during the early twentieth century.

The lid is fitted with a three-dial combination mechanism, each dial designed in the manner of a clock face with Roman numerals and centred with an applied arrow-shaped pointer. In its present condition the arrow indicators have been soldered and are no longer movable. However, the internal mechanism survives and clearly demonstrates how the box was intended to function. Inside the lid, a system of rotating discs and a sliding locking bar would originally have aligned when the correct numerical sequence was set on the external dials, allowing the catch to release and the box to open. The lower section forms a plain compartment intended for loose tobacco or snuff.

Combination tobacco and snuff boxes of this type are associated particularly with Welsh coal miners of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In the mining communities of the South Wales Valleys, including Aberdare and Cwmbach, such boxes served both practical and social purposes. Tobacco and snuff were widely used underground and during breaks, and a lockable box prevented pilfering in communal working environments. The novelty of a combination lock also reflected the pride miners took in personal possessions, often having them engraved with their names and addresses.

These boxes were generally made of brass due to its durability, resistance to corrosion in damp conditions, and relative affordability. The mechanisms, though simple, demonstrate an inventive adaptation of combination lock principles to small personal items. Many surviving examples show signs of heavy use, and it is not uncommon to find mechanisms later fixed or soldered, as seen here.

This example, clearly inscribed, dated, and retaining its internal locking mechanism, provides a tangible link to the industrial communities of early twentieth-century South Wales and to the everyday material culture of the coal miner.

物件編號: X37

年代: 公元 1924 年

材質: 黃銅

尺寸: 70 x 50 x 18 mm

重量: 97 g

來源: 英國私人收藏 2026

這是一件威爾斯礦工使用的黃銅組合式菸草／鼻煙盒，年代為1924年，盒背刻有：「BEN THOMAS 43 YNYSCYNON ST CWMBACH NR ABERDARE 1924」。

此長方形盒體以黃銅製成，附有鉸鏈式盒蓋，正反兩面皆刻有裝飾性邊框。背面刻有個人化銘文，標示原主姓名及地址——位於阿伯代爾（Aberdare）附近坎巴赫（Cwmbach）的Ynyscynon街。該地區於二十世紀初期為南威爾斯重要的煤礦工業區。

盒蓋裝有一個三轉盤組合式機關，每個轉盤均設計成鐘錶式樣，飾以羅馬數字刻度，中央鑲有一枚箭形指針。以目前狀況而言，箭形指針已被焊固定，無法再轉動。然而，其內部機械結構仍然保存，並清楚顯示此盒原本的運作方式。盒蓋內部設有一組旋轉圓盤與滑動式鎖桿系統，當外部轉盤設定至正確數字順序時，內部結構便會對齊，使鎖扣釋放，盒蓋得以開啟。下半部為一素面內腔，原用以盛放散裝菸草或鼻煙。

此類組合式菸草或鼻煙盒特別與十九世紀末至二十世紀初的威爾斯煤礦工人相關。在南威爾斯山谷地區，包括阿伯代爾與坎巴赫，這類盒子兼具實用與社交功能。菸草與鼻煙在井下工作及休息時廣泛使用，可上鎖的盒子能防止於集體工作環境中被他人取用。組合鎖的設計亦反映礦工對個人物品的重視，常將姓名與住址刻於其上。

此類盒子多以黃銅製作，因其堅固耐用、在潮濕環境中不易腐蝕且價格相對可負擔。其鎖具機構雖然結構簡單，卻展現了將組合鎖原理運用於小型個人物品的巧思。現存實例多可見長期使用痕跡，亦常見機構後期被固定或焊死的情況，如本件所示。

此件作品刻有明確銘文與年代，並保留原有內部鎖定機構，為研究二十世紀初南威爾斯工業社群及煤礦工人日常物質文化的重要實物資料。