“Schetnik” or “shilnik” [awl case], a small box for keeping cobbler’s tools

Russians

European North of Russia, Arkhangelsk Guberniya, Arkhangelsk Uyezd, district, village Lopshenga

1880

Wood

РЭМ 2343-26

A small rectangular box whose bottom and three walls are gouged from one bar of wood, the fourth wall being nailed. The lid is sliding, and locked with an inside latch. Valuable is the inscription carved on it, “This box was made in Morzhovets on April 7, 1880 by Andrey Arefiev Fedotov, written in his own hand // The same month hunted leather, 155 leathers…”; the initials АА/СФ are carved on the lid. From this inscription we learn the maker’s name, and the date and place of the object’s manufacture, i.e. the isle of Morzhovets in the White Sea where the Pomors hunted harp seal, which they called “leather.” Abstract by O.G. Baranova