In the present chapter, we shall confine our remarks to the handiwork of the French and Spanish prisoners captured during the Napoleonic wars, because sufficient of it has been preserved to engage the attention of the treasure-hunter. One word of caution is necessary, at the outset: such objects are easily counterfeited, and, on this account, must only be bought from reputable people unless documentary proof of genuineness is forthcoming.
The Napoleonic prisoners were quartered in various districts of England, and for many years on end, thus our statements can only be made generally.
The chief settlement was at Norman Cross, near Peterborough, and, though the huge and dingy buildings which served as prisons no longer stand, the place is marked by a cross which was unveiled on July 28, 1914. The craft of the Peterborough prisoners ranked high, as visitors to the local museums will readily acknowledge. Their wares were chiefly made out of the beef-bones left over from their rations. The writer treasures a most exquisitely made set of dominoes carved from bone and ornamented by brush, quill, and knife which came from this settlement. A photograph of the set is given among the illustrations of the present work, but the delicate tracery and the coloured panels of the box have lost much of their charm in the process of reproduction. There is nothing unfinished about the dominoes; each is perfectly squared and the dots are scooped out and coloured with black enamel. When one remembers that the tools at the disposal of the workers were few and primitive, their productions must be accepted as truly marvellous. Another example of the work of these men which is worth mentioning is to be seen in the Peterborough Museum; it consists of a miniature bone or perhaps ivory guillotine, perfect in every detail.
OBSIDIONAL HALF-FRANC NOTE OF EPERNAY.
OBSIDIONAL FRANC NOTE OF EPERNAY.
Perhaps it will be well to mention that the inhabitants of Peterborough displayed much interest in the Frenchmen's art, and a regular market was held daily within the prison walls from ten to midday, whilst history records that as much as two hundred pounds was given in a week for these curios.
At Perth, another of the concentration centres, the products of the prisoners consisted of carved boxes, wooden and bone puzzles, toys and strawplait goods. Indeed, the skill which the men displayed in this latter class of production was so high that it outclassed all local work of a similar nature. From straw which was dipped in various coloured dyes these clever workmen made tableaux of a most gorgeous nature and framed them with carefully shaped pieces of wood. They also dug up the clay in the courtyards and modelled it into little statuettes of sailors, soldiers, and people of notoriety, whilst they cut pieces from their clothes and worked them into ornamental slippers.