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A carved Spanish coconut from 1778
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<p>[QUOTE="Stephen Masters, post: 4061102, member: 20256"]Hi everyone,</p><p><br /></p><p>I have been trying to find out a bit more information about this carved coconut, which has Spanish carved into it. You can see what is written, which is a little tricky to make out, but based on a bit of discussion among linguists, it reads:</p><p><br /></p><blockquote><p>De un lyryo soy esclavo desde oy. Año de 1778.</p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>Or in more modern Spanish:</p><p><br /></p><blockquote><p>De un lirio soy esclavo desde hoy. Año de 1778.</p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>English:</p><p><br /></p><blockquote><p>Of a lily I am the slave as from today. Year 1778.</p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>That flag at the very beginning is an old Spanish flag.</p><p><br /></p><p>I'm fairly sure that the flowers on the door are likely to be lilies, to reinforce the message.</p><p><br /></p><p>My assumption is that this is most likely a poetic declaration of devotion. Maybe a Spanish sailor pining for his love back home. Maybe a bridal gift, or even celebrating the birth of a daughter? It's difficult to know exactly, but it's fun to imagine.</p><p><br /></p><p>I have been hunting around and I'm struggling to find anything quite like it. I've found a number of coconuts carved as simple animals, and some carved by American and British sailors, who had travelled to West Africa or the Caribbean.</p><p><br /></p><p>Does anyone have any thoughts about this object, or know where I could find out more about where it might have come from?</p><p><br /></p><p>All I know is that it came from the estate of a rare book collector, and was gifted to my grandmother, whose name was Lily. She never even knew that the text was in Spanish - she always thought it was because she had commented on how much she liked it. Although I have a suspicion that maybe the man who gave it to her might have. Otherwise, it was an incredible coincidence!</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/rMfzi.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Stephen Masters, post: 4061102, member: 20256"]Hi everyone, I have been trying to find out a bit more information about this carved coconut, which has Spanish carved into it. You can see what is written, which is a little tricky to make out, but based on a bit of discussion among linguists, it reads: [INDENT]De un lyryo soy esclavo desde oy. Año de 1778.[/INDENT] Or in more modern Spanish: [INDENT]De un lirio soy esclavo desde hoy. Año de 1778.[/INDENT] English: [INDENT]Of a lily I am the slave as from today. Year 1778.[/INDENT] That flag at the very beginning is an old Spanish flag. I'm fairly sure that the flowers on the door are likely to be lilies, to reinforce the message. My assumption is that this is most likely a poetic declaration of devotion. Maybe a Spanish sailor pining for his love back home. Maybe a bridal gift, or even celebrating the birth of a daughter? It's difficult to know exactly, but it's fun to imagine. I have been hunting around and I'm struggling to find anything quite like it. I've found a number of coconuts carved as simple animals, and some carved by American and British sailors, who had travelled to West Africa or the Caribbean. Does anyone have any thoughts about this object, or know where I could find out more about where it might have come from? All I know is that it came from the estate of a rare book collector, and was gifted to my grandmother, whose name was Lily. She never even knew that the text was in Spanish - she always thought it was because she had commented on how much she liked it. Although I have a suspicion that maybe the man who gave it to her might have. Otherwise, it was an incredible coincidence! [IMG]https://i.stack.imgur.com/rMfzi.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE]
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