Bog Oak box

This little box was found whilst clearing out my uncle's house some years ago. It is made from Irish Bog Oak. There is a very old and beautiful label stuck on the bottom which is difficult to read except for the word Dublin. The wood is jet black and very hard having lain in a peat bog for perhaps a thousand years. The wood is found when the bogs are cleared and it starts to decay very quickly in the air if it is not preserved at once.

The lid depicts the Shamrock of Ireland, the Scottish Thistle, the English Rose and I am not sure what the Welsh emblem is between the thistle and the rose, maybe it is supposed to be a leek! If anybody can tell me I would be grateful!

Today was colder than yesterday and colder than when there was snow and ice on the ground - that is the effect of the northeasterly because it is much warmer when sheltered from it. Supermarket morning. Tim was muckspreading for much of the day - a smelly job but good for the grassfields and the only way of getting rid of the stuff from the yards.