Baronial Awards Coffer - Barony of Thor's Mountain

The Barony of Thor's Mountain traditionally collects "taxes" from established households and Peers of the area.  These taxes are entirely voluntary, and are mostly presented for the entertainment of the populace during baronial court.  On occasion, our Baroness, Mistress Godelind, will play up the part of a corrupt overload and accept a "bribe" of a bottle of cheap amaretto in return for a bogus title or imaginary lands.

My first SCA household, House Stronghand, was formed in the Barony of Thor's Mountain, and we thought it fitting that some sort of gift of appreciation should be provided to the Baroness for allowing us to establish a household within her domains.  Remember, in the middle ages, land was the measure of wealth and status.  For a landed overlord to permit a group of folk to establish a holding within her domain was an act of great generosity and hospitality.  Even wilderness areas had value.

We thought that an act of such generosity called for something a little more elegant than a bag of chocolate coins.  We passed the hat and came up with a little coin o' the realm wherewith we purchased a large count of beads, her Excellency being something of an expert at beadwork.  My coffer's primary purpose was to convey our gift to the Baroness.  You can imagine my surprise when she cried out with delight, "Oh, that's exactly what I've been looking for."  I had expected my coffer to be discarded after Court, or perhaps returned to me.  Instead, it was immediately adopted as the baronial regalia coffer.  Her Excellency uses the coffer to store our award regalia during and between courts. 

This coffer was my first completed woodworking project for the SCA.  In designing it I will confess that I drew mostly from Hollywood.  We were taking "treasure" to the local lord, and I wanted to make something that looked like a treasure chest.  But I also had heard, even in those days, that things were supposed to be "as 'period' as possible," so I also did a little digging. 

The coffer on p. 126 of Victor Chinnery's Oak Furniture, the British Tradition is very similar to the one I ended up making. (Image reproduced here without permission.) The primary visible differences are that I did not reinforce the corners with strapping, and I eschewed the leather covering, as I was not a leather worker.

The joinery in the coffer is of simple butt- or board-joints.  For fasteners I used a combination of wood glue and wood screws.  The wood glue is a reasonable substitute for period hide or fish glue, as they are messy and require skills I didn't have.  The wood screws were something of a blatant cheat, dictated by my materials.  I was on a very tight budget, and the coffer had to be made of whatever I happened to have.  What I had was some 3/4" pine that was warped and cupped every which way.  In period the artisan could have trued those boards out with a plane, but in those days, I had no plane, and didn't know how to use them, so I used wood screws to pull the boards straight during the assembly.  I counter-sunk them, and hid them with pegs.  The hinges and hardware on my piece were standard drawer hinges selected for their generally medieval appearence.

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