Nineteenth Century writing and draftsman’s kit

I picked up this gem for NZ$65.00 in an opportunity shop, in a small town in the North Island!!

I’m not sure how much it is worth, but it is well-worn and somewhat battered, enough for me to happily try the contents out myself rather than keep it for the collectible value.  Below is a pic after some general clean-up and scrubbing the worst of the rust of some of the metal.

The maker is “Reeves and Sons”, and the advert inside points to a production date of sometime in the late 1800’s (“Cumberland Drawing Pencils, from Brockendon’s Patent Lead, which gained the Council Medal at the Great Exhibition of 1851.”

The contents are a mix, probably added over the years.  Whatever the history of this box, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that it came over in one of the early settler ships as a vital part of a tradesman’s kit.   This has pride of place in my study, and I’ll be cleaning, polishing and buffing for a long time yet.