The working life of Museum of London

Over the past nine weeks, volunteers at the Museum of London’s Archaeological Archive & Research Centre have been hard at work improving the storage of our collections and checking the finds to make sure they’re all in a good state. They’ve formed the eighth team in our Volunteer Inclusion Programme and along the way have rediscovered many amazing artefacts that sit amongst our shelves.

To celebrate their work, we’ve picked the cream of the crop and EVERY DAY this week, the objects will be competing against each other to win your vote to decide which object is the best out of them all! It’s easy to play along, just have a look at each day’s four candidates and click on the link at the bottom of the page to cast your vote.

Round 1

To start us off, it’s this metallic purse discovered in 1978 at Finck Street, SE1. Audited during Week 3 by Friday volunteer Natalie and dating to the turn of the 19th Century, it’s hallmarked with the letters EPNS. Electroplated nickel silver was widely used from the 1840s and it’s likely to have been produced in Birmingham where electroplating was commercially patented by George Elkington. The object’s size and partial chain suggest it may have been a chatelaine purse worn from the waist, popular in the late 19th Century.

Second up is a clay tobacco pipe audited by volunteer Margo during Week 2. Found in 1977 at St Thomas Street excavations and dating from 1850-1900, the decoration features a steam locomotive on one side with a fully rigged (three masts, all square rigged) ship on the obverse. The type of locomotive is called the Planet type after Robert Stephenson’s Planet of 1830 and the ship is likely to be a Clipper, which became prominent from the 1840s and are probably best know for use in the tea trade with China. Perhaps the pipe celebrates Britain’s Industrial Revolution and the advances of 19^th Century transportation.

Your third choice was audited by Friday volunteer Wendy during Week 6. This rare find is a leather book cover, used to decorate manuscripts. It’s hard to make out the central stamped decoration, but fleurs-de-lis are visible at the corners. Other decoration could include metal ornamentation and this cover still has its functional copper clasps in situ. The leather would be applied to a wooden front and back cover (some of which survives under the clasps) which bound the manuscript together. It was originally discovered during excavations at Morgan’s Lane, Tooley Street

The final object today was rediscovered during Week 7 by Friday volunteer Tina. Excavated at Watling Court in 1978, this exceptionally well preserved mount is in the form of a dolphin and would have served as a footing perhaps for a small casket. Dolphins were sacred to the Roman god Neptune (also the god of horses) and appear in the design of many small finds such as furniture handles, buckles and glassware. The ‘gilt’ effect is actually an adverse reaction due to burial conditions.

All mighty fine contenders but which one do you think has the edge of the others? To vote for your favourite, click here: VOTE!

VOTING HAS NOW CLOSED!

Voting closes tomorrow at noon when the winning object will be announced  and will go into Friday’s Grand Final where it will fight it out with the rest of this week’s daily winners! There will also be a PRIZE that you could win for voting! Make sure you return for tomorrow’s competition when more will be revealed!

Thanks for voting!