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Shakespeare Connected - Marking Time in Shakespeare’s England

COFFER

Chests and boxes were another object associated with marriage, either given as betrothal gifts or taken by a woman to her new home. It is possible then that the date 1661 and initials EN on this small coffer identified a bride on the event of her marriage. This object is also fascinating, however, because it shows the multiple impressions time can make on an object as it passes through different hands - whilst the lid is dated 1661, the box is lined with a Stratford deed dated 1784, over a hundred years later.

 

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