A New Zealand auction house is expected to sell a trunk, which once carried the belongings of explorer Mungo Park, for up to £26,000.
The bullock hide trunk, covered in brass studs, will go under the hammer early Friday morning UK time in Auckland.
The trunk, estimated to sell for between $40,000 to $50,000 NZ, had accompanied Park, who was born at Foulshiels near Selkirk in 1771, on his travels to explore the course of the Niger in West Africa.
Selkirkshire councillor, Vicky Davidson, still has not lost hope some benefactor might buy the trunk and return it to Scotland.
“It would be very fitting if we could somehow retrieve his trunk and bring it back to Selkirk in the Year of Homecoming,” she said.