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The wooden box contains the hands of David Low (1891-1963), the political cartoonist, cast in wax by Madame Tussauds in London.

In 1933, when the waxwork was made, Britain's political cartoonists were considered sufficiently important for three of them - Low, George Strube and Percy Fearon - to appear in a gallery of people "In The News", alongside the politicians they caricatured.

Low visited Madame Tussauds to see his waxwork and drew a cartoon of the surreal encounter for the London Evening Standard. His effigy remained on display until September 1940, when a German bomb shattered the galleries. Although Low's waxwork did not survive, he was presented with the hands, which had been cast from life. He displayed them in a velvet-lined casket with a glass lid.

They are now in the British Cartoon Archive at the University of Kent in Canterbury. Much of the collection has been digitised and can be seen at .

Send suggestions for this series on the treasures, oddities and curiosities owned by universities across the world to matthew.reisz@tsleducation.com.