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Glove

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This pair of mittens originated from Banaba (formerly Ocean Island) and were worn to protect the hands in fist fights. The mittens are knotted from coconut string and the inside padded with coconut bast. String loops allow for the fingers to be stretched out. The mittens can be bound tight with the use of a twisted coconut string. Banaba is Nauru's neighbouring island. Nauru was not only just colonised by Germany, but also by Britain. Importantly, both islands contained large amounts of naturally-occurring phosphate, a resource exploited by the colonial powers - the price being the destruction of vast areas of the islands. How the mittens arrived in the Brandeis collection is not known. It is possible that they were a gift or alternatively, a contribution from the German district commissioner, Ludwig Kaiser. According to the collector, they were already very rare at the time they were acquired.

Data Provider
Museen Freiburg Show original at data provider

Cataloguing data

Object type
Handschuh
Dimensions
Width: 100.0 mm
Length: 150.0 mm
Material/Technique
Coconut fibre
Current location
Museum Natur und Mensch
Inventory number
II/1445

Provenance and sources

  • Production
    when
    before 1900
  • Change of legal title:
    Donation
    when
    22.11.1901
    who
    Brandeis, Eugen - Former Possessors
  • Change of physical control or legal title
    where
    Micronesia (location/origin)
    Oceania (location/origin)
    Ocean Island (location/origin)
    who
    Brandeis, Antonie - Collectors
    Kaiser, Ludwig - Collectors
  • Assignment to a curated holding:
    Oceania
Provenance
Donated by Eugen Brandeis (Imperial Governor of the Marshall Islands) November 1901, collected by Ludwig Kaiser on Nauru on behalf of Eugen and Antonie Brandeis (Jaluit) /Donated by Eugen Brandeis (Imperial Governor of the Marshall Islands) November 1901, collected by Ludwig Kaiser on Nauru on behalf of Eugen and Antonie Brandeis (Jaluit) Object no. 103 (Object list Antonie Brandeis, 2nd consignment Nov 1901, SAF C3/241/2): "Mittens. Woven from coconut rope. Worn on the Ocean Island (English property) when boxing. Now rarely seen." Presumably this object, like those from Nauru in the Brandeis collection, was collected by the local district governor Ludwig Kaiser (see SAF C3/241/1).

Information about the record

Legal status metadata
CC0 1.0 DEED

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