TOPIC:

I have in one of my previous post mentioned and shown the Stone bible my great great Grandfather, Albert William Dreyer, made in either Ceylon or St. Helena s a POW. I believe the real origin of the Bible, and the the actual camp A.W Dreyer was sent to, could be determined by the material the bible is made of, and specifically which camp this material was found at. This material is what appears to be a black slate. If anyone has any information, or another artifact made of black slate of which the origin is know of, please post it here. Attached is a photo of this bible.

Thank you;

J.I.W




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Apparently, this slate was carved in the Bellevue camp in Simons Town. The slate it was carved out of looks very similar to the stone of my bible.
However, similar looking stone was used at St Helena. I am yet to find out whether such stone was also found in Ceylon.



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I think your Bible was probably carved in one of the Indian POW camps. The red-brown colour of the stone is similar to that used at Kakool, Upper Topa and other Indian camps. In my experience, the slate used at Bermuda, Simonstown and Tin Town (Ladysmith) is grey. Not sure about St Helena - can't recall having seen an example.













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This has been extremely valuable to researching my great great grandfather. I do believe that you are correct, as even the carving style on the Indian pieces seem to match up with my piece. Could it then be possible that he was sent to Ceylon? Ceylon could have similar stone due to its proximity to India. If that is infact the case, my grandfather's information on my great great Grandfather would then be correct.

Once again thank you:

J.I.W

The most popular material for craftsmen in Ceylon was ebony. I have seen paperweights made from ebony, but not from slate. Given that a paperweight needs to be heavy, one would expect the material of choice for such items to have been stone. Could the fact that ebony was used indicate that there was no suitable (easily carved) stone available?

Ceylon Bibles were also made of ebony, usually inscribed with gothic lettering (unlike your example). Perhaps someone here has a stone carving from Ceylon, which could help answer your question.

Just a thought - is it possible that your ancestor was landed at Ceylon but then transferred to mainland India?





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Indeed he could have been transferred. Thank you once again for your help. I see what you mean with the usage of wood due to a possible lack of a stone to use.

J.I.W