Museum accepts miner's aging orange

Stafford, England -- An orange that had been the intended snack of a British miner who died after an 1891 explosion has been donated to a Staffordshire, England, museum.

The Potteries Museum said the dried-up orange had been packed in the lunch box of Joseph Roberts on the day he was injured in the explosion at a Stoke-on-Trent colliery, the BBC reported Tuesday.

Roberts succumbed to his injuries in a hospital.

The lunch box was kept by the family and handed down through the generations to great-granddaughter Pam Bettaney, who donated the box and its citrus contents to the museum.

Museum spokeswoman Deb Klemperer said the story behind the fruit made it a perfect fit for the museum.

"(Roberts') death was just one of many of the tragedies of the time. He was just one of many who died while working down the mines," Klemperer said.

© 2007 United Press International.