Pictures: Bank of England Museum reopens with exhibition on curious objects
The Bank of England Museum has reopened its doors today after a three-month revamp, and what better way to mark the occasion than by launching a new exhibition featuring some of the more unusual items from its vast collections that have never been shown before.
Among the curiosities on show is a secret ballot box designed by Sir John Soane, the architect and surveyor to the Bank from 1788 to 1833. Designed in the form of a miniature ancient Greek temple, it was used during the 1800s by the Bank’s Court of Directors to cast votes at the end of important meetings.
The ballot box allowed a voter to cast their ballot by reaching inside and dropping a small wooden ball to the left side for ‘yes’ or right for ‘no’.
Other unseen items include a battered leather trunk, whose description in the museum’s 1936 catalogue ledger reads “Camel pack for carrying gold over deserts”.
The mysterious object has been rumoured to be Lawrence of Arabia’s saddle bag, lent to him by the Bank to carry gold during his wartime desert campaigns. Although the connection remains unproven, private letters from the Bank’s Archive hint at a relationship between Lawrence and the Bank.
There are also some Roman and mediaeval ceramics discovered in the 1920s during the demolition of Soane’s original Bank building, notes signed by visitors to the Bank over 200 years including Nelson Mandela, and an 18th-century carved wooden figure of the Bank’s emblem Britannia.
The exhibition Curiosity from the Vaults runs until 11 July.