A Sailor’s Carved Coconut Bugbear Powder Flask

A sailor’s carved coconut Bugbear powder flask. This carved coconut is carved with two ovals, one showing a military panoply with standards, bayonets, swords and bugles all above a five-pointed Maltese cross, the other with a musical trophy. The open end is carved into a face with inlaid eyes and a moustache, the other end has a collar of pointed leaves, all on an arabesque ground. There are two rings for a chain. English, circa 1820. “Bugbear” coconut shell powder flasks, were reputedly carved by sailors or marines who visited the East or West Indies in the late 18th/early 19th centuries and had access to green coconut shells which were easier to carve than dried ones. There are examples of goblets and treen of similar workmanship attributed to French, English, Portuguese and Spanish sailors. These bugbears served the double purpose of filling the long hours away from home, and creating curios and keepsakes for loved ones or for sale.