FloYesterday we went to the Docklands in London to see the #Mudlarking exhibition. On the way we saw this duck but we aren’t sure what breed it is. #London It looks less biodegradable than the ducks we keep at home. 🧵
🧵2: the exhibition is on in the Docklands #MuseumOfLondon and was superb. The Seamstress has been reading a book about #Mudlarking and so had her OH. There were so many wonderful things that had been found in the Thames. One of the nicest sections of the book is about pins and how essential they were. ‘Pin money’ wasn’t a trifling thing in the 1500s. All these pins date from between 1500-1700 CE
🧵3 of course not everyone who threw (or lost) things in the river came by them honestly. These medals belonged to a tennis player called Peter Fleming who had them stolen during a burglary. They were chucked in the Thames River - I wonder why? Because they are too distinctive to be sold? Or the thief didn’t know what they were? A mudlarker found them, they have been returned to Peter Fleming and he loaned them to the exhibition. #HappyEnding
🧵4 my favourite item out of many wonderful things was a wine bottle and beside it a little miniature bottle just the same made for a children’s play set. It would be *rather a lot* of wine for us but it is charming and I like the idea of a nursery cheese and wine party!
Though, now I think about it, the fact is that it may be a miniature for a drawing room puppet house or curiosity cabinet which were very popular with collectors in the 18th century. So not for children at all. We tend to associate miniatures with children today but in the 18th century they were very much a hobby for adults. The book does also have some fairly basic history mistakes but the writing is good and the author a mudlarker not a historian. It is called ‘Mudlarking: Lost and Found on the River Thames’ by Lara Maiklem 🧵END
Sue ArcherThe year that book came out, I bought it for my Mum for Christmas. My sister bought it for Alfred. And she went home with a suspiciously familiarly shaped parcel from Mum, intended for her birthday in February...
Janet@suearcher @Flo_52Square 😂 a family favourite then!! The exhibition was excellent but definitely only ‘if you happen to be in London’ which we were.
What a wonderful selection of pins! And all still 'working', at a couple of hundred years old.
@suearcher You can just imagine a hand going up to a pretty bonnet that was loosened in the wind and the women wearing it looking down into the water for her lost pin…
Oh yes, what an evocative thought!
Saguaro LynxAha, TIL the meaning of "pin money" !
8- )
( I recently watched an episode of "War Factories" , which described the UK munitions factories during WW I, aka "The Great War".
As many of the men were serving in the armed forces, women worked in the expanded munitions industry. Some of the newspapers stated that women were "just" working for "pin money".
I now understand why I realized that was quite derogatory!
Thanks for the timely photo toot!
:- )