Linda Fredheim, Hobart, TAS

Love Token Box
English walnut, brass fittings and patinated copper
140mm W x 100 H x 115 D

Method of Construction
The walnut in this box was kindly given to me by Robert Blacklow, who had milled it from a felled tree which had been planted during the early days of European settlement in Hobart.
The box is mitred and held together with carefully placed 0 biscuits. The top and bottom were rebated and glued in. After the box was glued together, split and hinged, it was shaped using a spokeshave and block plane. The box features the face and obverse of a facsimile love token, which are both held in a small recess with double sided tape. The inside top panel is held in place with four small screws.

Glues
PVA

Finish
Precatalysed lacquer

Concept
I have always been fascinated by love tokens since I first saw them at an exhibition at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery some years ago. Made by convicts awaiting transportation to the colonies, love tokens featured messages and pictures engraved or pricked onto smoothed pennies, and were given to relatives or sweethearts as a memento.
I replicated both faces of the love token made by Henry Biddulph in 1827 and incorporated my replica 'token' into the box. I rounded the sides of the box to make it more tactile and kept the box small enough so it would fit comfortably between both hands.
I wanted to use an English timber in the box, as I thought the timber had to reflect a land left forever, but I think it is appropriate that the seed for the tree which provided the timber probably arrived in Van Dieman’s land at about the same time as Henry Biddulph.

Photos: Linda Fredheim and Peter Whyte