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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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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,...
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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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...
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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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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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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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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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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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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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