Sample of the beards of Sicilian oysters. It is accompanied by a patterned black wallet with an inscription inside, a handwritten letter dated Nov 11th 1895 and a brown envelope with the inscription: 'Beard of Sicilian Oyster R.U.S.I. Safe Compartment 3 KS39.' The letter reads as follows 'Note when Admiral Nelson had his arm amputated, by some oversight, a nerve was bound up with an artery, he suffered much and constantly for two years, until the ligature had decayed and the pressure was removed from the nerve. It was then thought to be the effect of cold on the unheated stump and the Neopolitan ladies in their devotion to the hero prepared a little muff of satin on which they quilted the beards of a Sicilian oyster said the be good for soothing pain, a sample is here enclosed, this piece formed part of the original stock, and some being left an English lady into whose possession it had come, gave a morsel to the writer - then at school in Paris, Sept 1827. So that in all aspects it is an antiquity...Bray Nov 11 1875.'