The Cuming Family Collection 
The Cuming family collection holds objects from dozens of countries all around the world as well as Southwark itself. Richard and Henry Cuming collected anything and everything from ancient Egyptian artefacts to the paper bags their bread came in! They managed to do this without ever leaving England as they bought many of their objects from auctions in London.
The collection gives a fascinating insight into the varied cultures and everyday life of people worldwide.
Ancient Egypt
The Cuming collection includes a small but impressive collection of ancient Egyptian artefacts purchased by Richard Cuming in the 1830s. Many of these objects are on display in the museum's  permanent gallery.
The Egyptian collection is interesting partly because of where and when Richard Cuming bought the material. He purchased a lot of his Egyptian material from auctions in the 1830s. Much of the contents of these auctions were collections amassed by the British Consul Henry Salt (1780 to 1827) his collector Belzoni and the explorer James Burton. They donated a lot of their collections to the British Museum and the Louvre and sold the remainder at auctions. The material Cuming purchased was some of the very first to come onto the open market in England.
Fakes and forgeries
Henry Syer Cuming deliberately collected different sorts of fakes. In the 19th century many people wanted to buy antiques and dishonest antique dealers made money by selling new things made to look old. Henry, as a knowledgeable archaeologist, knew when something was really old or not. He bought these fakes on purpose for his collection. Find out more about the Fakes and Forgeries collection.
"Billy and Charley"
William Smith and Charles Eaton worked on the shore of the river Thames searching for antiques. They began to make fake 14th century antiques in 1857. The objects they made were mainly lead medallions, figures, pilgrim flasks and even small shrines, bathed in acid to look older. Many people were taken in by these fakes and thousands were sold throughout Britain.
Henry Syer Cuming dismissed the things made by Billy and Charley as almost "worthless" in a magazine article and exposed the fraud behind their manufacture. This caused a controversy that continued until some of their moulds were stolen and publicly displayed proving that Billy and Charley made fake antiques.
Objects brought to England by Captain Cook
Captain James Cook made three great scientific voyages in 1768, 1772 and 1776. Among the locations his ship, the Endeavour, visited were Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, Alaska, Canada and South America. He was the first European to visit many Pacific islands.
Cook was interested in the lives of the islanders he met, even taking part in local ceremonies on the islands he visited. He kept journals about his voyages and collected many objects showing how the various Pacific islanders lived. On his return to England the natural history and objects that had been collected during the journeys were sold. Some went to museums like the British Museum and the Leverian Museum.
In 1807 the Leverian Museum was closed and Richard Cuming attended an auction to dispose of their collection. He purchased several items that Cook had collected on three great voyages to the South Sea Islands and Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, Alaska, Canada and South America. Richard Cuming sustained an interest and continued to purchase other ethnographic material from Cook's voyages from various sales and auctions in the following decades.
Find out more about objects brought to England by Captain Cook.
Objects from Mexico
The Cumings acquired their Mexican objects between 1830 and 1850. One of the interesting thing about their Mexican collection is that many of the items are actually fakes.  Discover more about the objects and try the Cuming Challenge to see if you can identify the real and the fake.
The Cuming Schomburgk Collection
The development of the Untold Origins exhibition was particularly inspired by the Schomburgk collection at the Cuming Museum. The explorer Robert H. Schomburgk collected objects during an expedition to British Guiana from 1834 to 1839. It was sponsored by the Royal Geographical Society. He surveyed the upper Guiana River basin and collected botanical specimens and other objects.
On returning to London Schomburgk exhibited his collection of artefacts at the Cosmorama exhibition hall, Regent Street, in 1840. The collection was sold at auction and Richard Cuming purchased around 50 objects.
The Schomburgk material is an important record of South American tropical lowland life. The objects represent a culture which was strong and sophisticated. They also represent the range and type of objects used in the Guyanas and by extension in the Caribbean before 1400.
Read more about the Schomburgk Collection here. (pdf 624 kb)
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Discover lots more objects in the Cuming Museum collection by using our new search facility. The database is growing all the time. Visit Southwark Collections online now.
For more about the Cuming Collection see the page Other Collections at the Cuming Museum.
Contact us
For enquiries about our collections contact
The Cuming Museum
Tel: 020 7525 2332
Fax: 020 7525 2345
cuming.museum@southwark.gov.uk
Old Walworth Town hall
151 Walworth Road
London
SE17 1RY |