Mahogany wood box with brass hinges and reinforcements meas. approx. 15.75 long x 4.75 wide x 2.75 inches high. Wood is in nice condition with minor surface scratches from age and storage. The bottom has four brass tacks for feet with the bottom board being covered with a thin, worn piece of black leather. Front has brass lined keyhole. Key is missing.

Interior has a very nice green felt lining with a wonderful black and gold label that reads “J. REYNDERS & CO. / SURGICAL &ORTHOPEDICAL / INSTRUMENTS / 303 FOURTH AVE / NEW YORK.” The company was at this address beginning in 1878.

The lower portion of the kit contains the following (all pieces are Reynders marked unless otherwise stated,) large amputating knife, medium catlin with broken tip maker marked “Otto & Sons, small catlin, metacarpal saw, scalpel and tenaculum. All have crosshatched ebony wood handles. Also present in this lower section is a cloth tourniquet with a brass buckle marked “Tiencken” and two spools for surgical thread. Also tucked in the pocket with the spools is a newspaper clipping from a modern newspaper advertising the auction the kit came from in Louisa County, Virginia.

Removing the flap from the interior of the lid exposes a compartment that holds a capital bone saw, a Hey’s saw, bone chisel and a gnawing forceps marked “Thorpe & Llyod Bros.” Both saws have ebony wood handles to match the other instruments in the case.

At top cent of the lids exterior is a brass escutcheon engraved with “”CARL VENN / DR MED.”

Carl Venn was born April 2, 1843 in Bad Briburg, Germany. About the time of the Civil War Venn came to the United States with his family and settled in Chicago, Illinois. It was there he practiced medicine till the end of his life. There is no record of any military service and how this kit came to be in a Virginia auction is not known.  [ad]

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