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Buried treasure: top 10 finds
This week, the 1.5 millionth discovery made by the public has been recorded on the British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) database. The PAS scheme, which was launched in 1997, records...
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Suffrage objects in the British Museum
In the British Museum archives, on yellowing paper and in compact, neat script, there is an application for admission to the Museum’s Reading Room. Dated 24 January 1908, the applicant wishes to...
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The Frome Hoard voted top Treasure
When working with the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS), the concept of a ‘forward job plan’ is somewhat laughable – your work patterns are largely dictated by finds made by detectorists. Some...
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20 years of Treasure
On 24 September 1997 the common law of treasure trove, in place in England, Wales and Northern Ireland for more than 500 years, was replaced by the Treasure Act 1996. This marked a radical change in...
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A hoard of note: gold coins, a piano and a family mystery
Part of the ‘Piano Hoard’ discovered in Shropshire. © Portable Antiquities Scheme/The Trustees of the British Museum. Photo: Peter Reavill. It’s no surprise that a lot of people are excited and...
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The sinking of the Lusitania: medals as war propaganda
The Money and Medals Network is an Arts Council England-funded project that exists to build and develop relationships between UK museums that have numismatic collections. As the project curator, I...
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The die that struck Britain’s first coins?
One of the most recent acquisitions made by the Department of Coins and Medals is a highly unusual object – an ancient punch or ‘die’ used to manufacture coins in the second century BC. The die was...
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The Frome Hoard voted Top Treasure
When working with the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS), the concept of a ‘forward job plan’ is somewhat laughable – your work patterns are largely dictated by finds made by detectorists. Some...
View ArticleClik here to view.
20 years of Treasure
On 24 September 1997 the common law of treasure trove, in place in England, Wales and Northern Ireland for more than 500 years, was replaced by the Treasure Act 1996. This marked a radical change in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A hoard of note: gold coins, a piano and a family mystery
Part of the ‘Piano Hoard’ discovered in Shropshire. © Portable Antiquities Scheme/The Trustees of the British Museum. Photo: Peter Reavill. It’s no surprise that a lot of people are excited and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
FAKE NEWS
It’s 1 April – and that means April Fools’ Day. The day’s origins are shrouded in mystery, with many possible explanations offered (which you can handily read on Wikipedia or Snopes if you like). In...
View ArticleDefacing coins like a suffragette
Stamped in crude lettering across the head of the king is the phrase ‘VOTES FOR WOMEN’, the slogan of the suffragette movement. The deliberate targeting of the king, as the constitutional monarch and...
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Change is good! A history of money
The history of money can be traced back over 4,000 years and includes a host of different objects – some you would expect and others that may surprise you. Think of this blog post as a dossier of dosh,...
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Mary Beard’s top five powerful women in ancient Greece and Rome
1. The Amazon queen Penthesilea Black-figured amphora (wine-jar) signed by Exekias as potter and attributed to him as painter. Made in Attica, Greece, 530–525 BC. Found in Vulci, Italy. The Amazons...
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The die that struck Britain’s first coins?
One of the most recent acquisitions made by the Department of Coins and Medals is a highly unusual object – an ancient punch or ‘die’ used to manufacture coins in the second century BC. The die was...
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The mystery of the Fetter Lane hoard
Amelia Dowler, Curator of Greek and Roman Provincial Coins, British Museum In 1908 workmen excavating foundations for a house in Fetter Lane (City of London) found 46 coins in a pot. The Rev’d FD...
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The Sudanese lyre: an object with many voices
By David Francis, Interpretation Officer Of all the objects I’ve worked with in my eight years as an interpretation officer at the British Museum, the Sudanese lyre is perhaps the most intriguing....
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A Viking ship on a Chinese note
Helen Wang, curator, British Museum ‘There are Viking ships on Chinese banknotes’ I said to Gareth Williams, curator of the BP exhibition Vikings: life and legend, thinking that I could easily research...
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Bitcoin: how do we display the intangible?
Benjamin Alsop, curator, British Museum The Citi Money Gallery charts over four millennia’s worth of monetary history. The Department of Coins and Medals cares for over one million objects in the...
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The sinking of the Lusitania: medals as war propaganda
Henry Flynn, Project Curator, British Museum The Money and Medals Network is an Arts Council England-funded project that exists to build and develop relationships between UK museums that have...
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