Vote for Hertfordshire’s Museum Object of the Year 2025

Notes to editors

Notes to editors:

“The Museums Development Team is part of HCC Heritage Services, and the programme is delivered in conjunction with a service level agreement with MDSE, a sector support organisation supported by Arts Council England.”

High resolution images can be provided on request.

Museum Objects entered include:

Museum Name: Ashwell Village Museum

Object Name: Receipt for providing Wedding Reception in 1944

A receipt from L.L.Beale & Son (Pork Pies a speciality!) of Royston for a meal for 53 guests served at a Wedding Reception in  Ashwell 1944 – costing 5 shillings and 6d per head (which equates to 27p).

 

Museum Name: Bishop’s Stortford Museum by South Mill Arts

Object Name: An 18th c. view of Bishop’s Stortford

Short Description: This oil painting depicting the town in the early 1760s by an unknown artist is owned by Bishops Stortford Town Council and is on long term loan to Bishop’s Stortford Museum.  Can you help us identify the artist?

 

Museum Name: The British Schools Museum

Object Name: Object Lessons Box

Short Description: In Victorian ‘Object Lessons’ (pre-cursors to modern science lessons) these fascinating boxes were cabinets of curiosities for school pupils. From natural resource to household object, children were inspired by tactile, hands-on education.

Museum Name: Bushey Museum and Art Gallery

Object Name: Ancient Egyptian Ushabti

Short Description: Ancient Egyptian ushabti brought home by the pioneering Bushey Egyptologist and artist Myrtle Broome, known for her work on recording inscriptions in tombs and the Temple of Pharaoh Seti I.

 

Museum Name: De Havilland Aircraft Museum

Object Name: DHI08 Swallow scratch-built model.

Short Description: This model of the DHI08 'Swallow' represents a pioneering period of exploration in aircraft design that ultimately led to a new world air speed record set on 12th April 1948 when a speed of 604.98 miles per hour was recorded.

Museum Name: Dacorum Heritage Trust

Object Name: Again for Everest!

Short Description: Ovaltine again for Everest! This original artwork was designed to celebrate Ovaltine’s selection as an official high-altitude ration for the Mt. Everest Expedition in 1936. Attributed to H. Barry.

Museum Name:  Elstree and Borehamwood Museum

Object Name:  Tipsy Nipper aircraft

Short Description: This is a hand-built wooden scale model of an aerobatic light aircraft that once flew out of Elstree Aerodrome. It is large enough to sit in and operate the controls which move as they would in a real aircraft.   With the aid of flight simulation you can pilot the aircraft for the 15minute flight from Elstree to Heathrow

 

Museum Name: Frogmore Paper Mill

Object Name: John Dickinson’s Desk

Short Description: This desk belonged to John Dickinson, one of Hertfordshire’s finest inventors. Here he worked on ideas such as the Cylinder Mould Machine for making paper, developed silk threaded security paper and self-extinguishing paper for firing cannons, used to Britain’s success at the Battle of Waterloo, and built an industry that shaped the local area.

Museum Name: Garden City Collection (Letchworth Garden City)

Object Name: Aman’s Grandfather’s ‘tawa’: an Indian cooking pan, handmade in Letchworth

Short Description: This tawa (an Indian cooking pan used to make chapattis) was handmade by Gurdev Singh Shergill, out of steel from the K&L factory in Letchworth where he worked as it was not possible to buy these pans in any local shops.  It brought familiarity & comfort to a community starting new lives in a different country.

 

Museum Name: Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies (HALS)

Object Name: Addis Sales Catalogue 1984

Short Description: These Star Wars based promotional materials from the Hertford firm of Addis Ltd – best known as a leading manufacturer of toothbrushes - invited hygiene conscious science fiction fans to ‘clean up the Empire’ at Christmas 1984. From the records of Addis Ltd. (HALS ref DE/Ad/1/7/127).

 

Museum Name: Lowewood Museum

Object Name: Roman tegula roof tile, with animal paw prints

Short Description: Mischievous kids today are sometimes tempted to write their names in wet cement. 2,000 years ago, Roman clay tiles were left to dry in the sun in a similarly vulnerable state. This example of a Roman tegula roof tile has attracted a dog, and possibly other animals, to have a wander over it, leaving their paw prints for us to admire centuries later.  

Museum Name: North Herts Museum

Object Name: Oldowan chopper tool from Somalia

Short Description: This unassuming piece of sandstone is one of the earliest human tools in the world, dating back around 2 .5 million years. It was discovered by explorer and amateur archaeologist Heywood Seton-Karr, who travelled widely in Africa and Asia.

 

Museum Name: The Natural History Museum at Tring

Object Name: Naked mole-rat

Short Description: Naked mole-rats are the only known cold-blooded mammal. They can live for up to 37 years, which is an unusually long time for animals their size!  This was collected in 1896 from southern Somalia by Italian army captain Vittorio Bottego.  Today these unusual little mammals are important to scientists who are looking at how characteristics such as their resistance to cancer evolved, so they can advance understanding of human health and treatment of disease.

Museum Name: Potters Bar Museum

Object Name: Karma Chameleon Novelty Phone

Short Description:  I’m a Chameleon and my ring tone is the famous song Karma Chameleon by Culture Club which stayed at number one in the charts for weeks in the autumn of 1983.

 

Museum Name: Royston Museum

Object Name: “Royston, by Night”

Short Description: When documenting a recent donation, we couldn’t help but giggle at this gem of a postcard showing Royston by night! These were so popular you could travel almost anywhere in the country and find one.  We believe this card dates to around 1915.

Museum Name: St Albans Museum + Gallery

Object Name: Marconi Clocking in Clock

Short Description: Used in the Marconi factory in the Fleetville area of St Albans, this clocking in clock recorded the working hours of employees until 1988 when it was put up as a prize in a company raffle.

Museum Name: Stevenage Museum

Object Name: Moon Landing Plaque

Short Description: This plaque reads ‘Man’s greatest achievement American Astronauts landed on the Moon July 20 1969’ and was made for the day of the moon landing and was given to the senior trials engineer at BAE in Stevenage who had written the launch manual for the Apollo 11 rocket that reached the Moon.

Museum Name: Three Rivers Museum 

Object Name: Boring Machine Tooth

Short Description: One of the teeth from the huge HS2 tunnel boring machine, now on display to remind us of this contentious project cutting though the Chilterns. Not every museum exhibit is old!  

 

Museum Name: Tring Local History Museum

Object Name: Brown’s, Land Surveying Level

Short Description: Early 20th Century Land Surveying Level used by Tring historic family business, W. Brown & Co. In full working order with excellent optics.

Museum Name: UH Art Collection

Object Name: Bug Ball Collection

Short Description: Bug Ball Collection by Claire Moynihan, a graduate of the University of Hertfordshire, is free-form style of 3-dimensional embroidery exploring traditional entomological collections, each tiny insect meticulously observed, crafted, pinned and classified with a handwritten label. Claire graduated from UH in 2008 with a BA Hons in Contemporary Applied Art.

Museum Name: Ware Museum

Object Name: Brass plough sign from Allen & Hanburys

Short Description: This brass plough sign was the symbol of pharmaceutical company Allen & Hanburys. Founded at Plough Court in London in 1715 the firm moved to Ware in the late 19^th century, later merging with Glaxo Smith Kline to became GSK, a global biopharma company based in Hertfordshire. 

 

Museum Name: Watford Museum

Object Name: Graham Taylor’s Tracksuit

Short Description: This 1980s tracksuit belonged to legendary Watford FC manager Graham Taylor. Taylor masterminded the club's remarkable rise from the Fourth to the First Division, culminating in their European debut.