Mr William Bragge (1823-1884) was a British civil engineer, businessman and collector. He was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, the Anthropological Society, the Royal Geographical Society, and numerous other societies in the UK and abroad.
Bragge travelled extensively, especially in Europe, Egypt, South America and Russia. During his travels, he acquired a vast collection of books and objects, many of which are now held in libraries, museums and societies in the UK. Among his collections were approximately 13,000 smoking pipes and other objects associated with tobacco. In his book, Bibliotheca Nicotiana (1880), Bragge lists 129 objects from Russia, and some of these are from Siberia, including snuffboxes made from semiprecious stones found in Siberia, such as jasper and rose quartz.
The British Museum holds over 2,000 objects from Bragge’s collections. Most of this material is tobacco-related, but a range of other objects are also included, such as boat paddles from New Zealand, blow pipes from Brazil, a carved ivory box from Nigeria and a mammoth ivory puzzle box made in Yakutsk. This last object is a Chinese tangram puzzle comprising seven flat shapes that fit together to form a square. Inside the box, a note written by Bragge reads,
Mammoth Ivory. Carved by a peasant at Yakutsk on the Lena. Siberia. Given me by Col. Zarubin. Jan. 68 [January 1868]. W. Bragge.
From 1858-1872, Bragge was a managing director of John Brown & Co. Ltd., which was a
company based in Sheffield that manufactured armour-plate. This particular type of armour-plate was made from a compound of rolled iron with a steel face. It is likely to have been this business that led Bragge to Kolpino, which was the site of an important Russian iron works. An additional note in the Christy Collection Register held in the ALRC at the British Museum bears this out: it notes that Col. Zarubin was ‘Governor of the Iron Works at Kolpino.’
Bragge and Zarubin appear to have become friends during Bragge’s visit to Russia. Among the Christy Correspondence, there is a letter from Col. Zarubin dated January 17, 1866 addressed to ‘Dear Sir’ who is almost certainly Bragge. The letter mentions two parcels that Zarubin has sent to Bragge as a gift - ‘You would please my [sic] very much in accepting the applied two parcel’ - and Zarubin notes that ‘most part of it for you and there is also four picture for [?] Bally’ (‘Bally’ is unknown). He ends by wishing Bragge a ‘very happy voyage’ and writes that he would be ‘very, very much pleased to see you again at the house of a [?] Zaroubin.’ At the end of the letter are two lists: one describing thirteen views of the Kolpino Works; the other describes the objects contained in the parcel he has sent to Bragge, including some tobacco related material. At the top of this list, however, is the tangram puzzle box. Zarubin writes,
- Jakoutsk [Yakutsk] (town in the Asiatic Russia)
Game box made of mammoth by common knife
