THE SUITCASE & THE BARBOURS THREAD CARD (UPDATED 26 May 2020)

THE SUITCASE & BARBOURS WAXED THREAD

Note the different shape and artwork of this card as
opposed to others of the same brand.

Note that the two cards on the left state 'WAX THREAD' and the SM card states 'WAX THREADS' and a decorative design within the lower space. The two on the left also have 'Made in the United Kingdom across the base whilst the SM card has no space for any wording.

Here are more examples:

This card has a similar design to the SM card, note that the slit for the thread lies on the left and right of the card and not the left only as in the later cards shown above. This particular piece came from the South Canterbury Museum, NZ. Wax Thread was used to repair leather amongst other items such as waterproof jackets.

You can find more on the suitcase contents here... an old post, quite interesting for comparison.

The name on the card is a little misleading, the company that owned this brand was The Linen Thread Company. Established in the late 1700s by John Barbour, it rapidly grew to be an international company with factories in the USA and here in Australia. The company manufactured all kinds of linen threads, twines and even fishing lines.

They began their Australian manufacturing operation in late 1938 when a site was chosen in Sydney. Post war they expanded again to Victoria and Queensland.

1938 article

The point I want to make here is that it was this thread that was relied upon to provide the only real physical evidence that the suitcase and therefore its contents, belonged to the Somerton Man. The repairs to the collar of the jacket, the pocket in the trousers and the button sewed back on the trousers, all apparently had the same thread as was found on the Barbours card in the suitcase. Cleland commented that it was a Sepia colour; it was a neutral colour that was readily available in Australia at the time.

Consider this, how easy would it be for a third party to quickly carry out the rudimentary repairs and then throw the Barbours card into the case?  A 15-minute job tops. And for that effort, the hard evidence link was planted and everyone, myself included in the early days, just took it for granted. It is only since the revelation that the man was highly likely to have been assassinated with a typical Soviet MO that made me once again rethink my view on the suitcase some months ago.

Truth to be told I have never really felt comfortable with the idea that the case was filled with anything other than 'litter', placed there precisely because the waters would be seriously muddied, resources would be tied up and confusion would reign. It worked for more than 70 years.

For those interested, here's the high-resolution image, well sort of, that the Barbours Thread image came from:

AND HERE ARE THE OTHER 9 ITEMS 

MAKING 14 IN TOTAL:

The orientation of the image commonly found on the web was more to do with the layout of various newspapers and their requirements. The original orientation was vertical as shown here. To accommodate that, the various tools were supported by pins (or snip if you spell it in reverse), I tried to give an extra clue! As you can see I have circled 9 separate pins, those 9 plus the 5 items make 14 items in total. I imagine it was Jimmy Durham taking the photographs.

And here is a close up of the brush, notice that it is a 'stubby' brush head:

The image on the right is of a modern-day equivalent, size 24 professional stencil brush.

26th MAY 2020

A very interesting ad cropped up in the Adelaide Advertiser in 1948, it awas looking for someone who had taken another's kitbag by mistake, the date was 29th November 1948. The finder was to contact the barman  at the Strathmore Hotel:

The Strathmore had advertised for a Chef in early August and again in September 1948. You have to wonder who owned that kitbag and what was his name?