Mystery Objects

The object featured in our January issue has been identified by an Honorary Member of the KAS, Michael Moat. Now retired, Michael was for 30 years curator of the Guildhall Museum in Rochester and prior to this worked at the British Museum.

It is a Chinese portable inkwell, which would originally have held a brush within the hollow stem. The compass has nothing to do with finding direction, but would have been used for esoteric divination. The symbols are almost certainly the Chinese zodiac. Objects like this were in use up until the early years of the 20th century.

Below and right is another object which has defied identification. Found in the ploughsoil at Colliers Green, it is a near-perfect tetrahedron of polished stone with high quartz content, with slightly rounded edges. Suggestions have included a gaming piece, or even a love token, as coins and other objects were sometimes shaped in this way and given by a swain to his beloved. Can any KAS member identify this? Please contact the editor at the usual address, email or telephone number.