Discoveries

**A few days ago I wrote about my findings in the loft of my home where I lived as a child.
My brother first bought it, and then he sold it, so it had to be made empty, and historie came above. **

Such nice findings!
I went back to get a kitbag that my dad used to use when he was in the army, but shameful that was not to be found anymore, the very nice lady of the house was ever so sorry, but hey she bought the house and my brother left all this stuff in there, so while I was there I picked up still some suitcases which belonged to our family.

And I was lucky!
although I will have to do a lot of work to make some things legal. No I did not find a secret stash of weed or other forbidden fruits, but I found tortoise shields.
The biggest one from what we call soup tortoise or is it turtle in dutch we just call both schildpad :-) that easies things up! translated it would be a shieldtote, vague I can get related whit that term.
A soupturtle is called like that because they are used to make soup of, it sounds disgusting to me, but they say it would be delicious anyway now it is protected and not to be traded anymore. They can get up to 1 meter in length, mine is about 60 cm.

They can swim up to 30 km per hour! that is faster then I can swimm I guezz. :-) But this one does not swim anymore.. In this time they are very much caught in our pollution of plastic. When on the bottom of the sea they look up for food, they eat jellyfish and plastic bags do look like that ! ![image.png] ()
(pictures from : http://batepapoverde.blogspot.com/2013/07/poluicao-dos-mares-e-oceanos.html)

I think they are beautiful, but I do not like them on my wall, I much rather would sell them. They could reach a high price. When they allready pay this much for a fake https://www.demuseumwinkel.com/schedels-skeletten/opgezette-schildpad-op-sokkel.

Coming to a price I will first have to be able to show the Belgium state that this one is from before a certain time... jup wright... Uh It used to be my aunts she lived in Venezuela for quit a few years, lovely weird aunt, who had ocelots running in her house and a parrot which flew above her car when she drove to get her husband from the airport, for he was a pilot. She lived some time in between the Indians, where how and when ? I do not know ! She came back to Holland just before 1964, cause she was there just before I was born. I think she was born in 1919 and she died in 1993. But more I do not know, they asked have you got any pictures where you can see it hanging on the wall in her house or something,
But the answer is NO so now I will start looking up her historie, it will be a interesting one !

Emptying your elderly home is really very emotional, I found a load of papers and letters from family, also some contracts between my uncle my grandfather and my dad and a piece of paper where grandad has written which child is getting what like a testament /last will... discovery granddad had more children then I knew ! That makes that I might have more cousins uncles and aunts ! excited ! But start searching for the name van Riet is ridiculous for it is as common as Brown in Holland.
In this testament is written that a table lighter and sigarette box made in silver go to my aunt.
The same aunt as the shield are from.
I found the lighter and the sigarette box in the same box as the shields. And that is a bit weird! because the lighter and the box had been my property before my aunt died, she gave it to me when I visited her whit my 2 kids. I forgot all about it and it landed in the loft of my parents house...
But my aunt was weird, I swear to have had contact with her after she died!!!
But that is a different story... ( just thinking I may try to get contact again!) haha
I just had to clean it, for it looked so black and really dirty and unloved. I still thought it was only silver plated but great was my surprise when I actually found a 925 stamp on the bottom of the lighter
925 parts of pure silver !

and 800 as a stamp on the sigarettebox.
and 800 is still silver with 800 parts.

Older silver articles are many times stamped 800 especially in Holland after its connection with Indonesia. This is a very normal karat to use over there, we also can call it djoka silver ( i hope I write this right)
The lighter is made in 2 parts the inside bit, the lighter it self, and the silver surrounding. Out for the 950 stamp is nothing to find on it.
But on the lighter itself it said Ronson which is a good brand.

The sigarette box is broken, the hinge is rusted and does not move, so I took it out and put it in Coca cola , it might work :-) The inside of the box is made in shiny palissander? dark oak? wood.

They are beautiful. Very art deco

really curious from which time this comes. Was it a wedding gift in 1922? or may be a jubileum present for my granddads office?
Hard work to get it clean, I better give it a wipe again.