As another heatwave rises, I've been digging out some beautiful historic fans from our collection! One early 19th century sequinned 'chinoiserie' (with its original box!), one Victorian with handpainted flowers, and one early 20th century in faux-ivory plastic. Cool! 😎

I absolutely love this fabric sample card from 1984! "Still some 50s/60s influence, though end-result is thoroughly 80s" 😄

Ah, the irony of a coin showing a soldier driving his spear into an enemy who's lying collapsed over his fallen horse, with an inscription meaning "restoration of happy times" (or similar)! Those Romans, eh?! #stabbystabby #goodtimes 😏

Doing some research on our long-case clock, in advance of writing a blog post about it. It will have more words than this but will basically say "OMG clocks are soooo cool!" 😆

Really interested by this wallet, presented to the manager of the local co-op in 1958. Pockets for 20 and 10 shilling notes, a licence (presumably a driving licence), and 'cards'. Credit cards were just starting to come into use (AmEx was launched in 1958) so I guess this is for business cards?

We have this framed print of irises in our collection. The provenance documentation is minimal, so we're not sure why it's ended up with us, but I absolutely love it! It's by a printmaker named Winifred Pickard (1908-1996) ☺️

I've always rather liked these double coin portraits. (This is William and Mary on a Maundy 4d from 1694.) They're not terribly flattering, mind! 😋

Found this fab cape in the store today! Pretty sure it's a late Victorian mourning cape, but the records say it was donated in the 1960s to an amateur dramatics society for their 'prop box', before coming to the museum about 20 years later! I do love objects with a history 😄

Donating a time capsule to a museum seems much more sensible than burying it in the ground! We can (almost) guarantee that the objects will preserved and won't just be a soggy mess when the time comes to unseal it!

"You needn't be a millionaire to own a house" says this builders' advert from the early 1950s. I suspect it would have helped, though, if you wanted to own a house like the ones illustrated! 🏰

Updating catalogue records for some coins; this shilling says "George II, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, Duke of Brunswick and Luneburg, Arch-Treasurer and Elector of the Holy Roman Empire". That's quite the mouthful! ehive.com/collections/...