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Hertfordshire Museum Object of the Year 2025

Entries for the Hertfordshire Museum Object of the Year 2025 are now in and once again our museums have come up with a fabulously diverse and interesting selection of objects which highlight, not just the collections of the county’s museums, but also the fascinating stories of Hertfordshire residents and businesses, and the contribution the County has made, and still makes, to the wider world. 

Twenty two museums from across the county have entered this year's competition. Scroll down to find out about all the entries, choose your favourite and vote!

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Receipt for providing Wedding Reception

Ashwell Village Museum

Receipt for Ashwell Wedding Reception in 1944 for 53 guests at 5/6 per head. Total: £14 11s 6d How costs and expectations have changed over 80 years.

More about the receipt

The wedding of Eleanor Picking to Stanley Purchase in Ashwell on 4th December 1944 was attended by 53 guests. The reception meal was provided by L.L.Beale & Son (Pork Pies a speciality!) of Royston for 5/6 (27p) a head. The total cost was £14.57 We have added this to our archive as a reminder of how costs and expectations have changed in 80 years.

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An 18th c. view of Bishop’s Stortford 

Bishop's Stortford Museum

This oil painting by an unknown artist is owned by Bishops Stortford Town Council and is on long term loan to Bishop’s Stortford Museum. It depicts the town in the early 1760s and is a beautiful composition that is of considerable heritage interest. 

More about the painting

“An 18th Century View of Bishop’s Stortford with St. Michael’s Church” by unknown artist is an oil painting on canvas and was dated 1750-1760s. It is a large landscape work measuring 89 x 153 cm. The painting was a gift to Bishops Stortford Town Council from Major Francis Skeet, and is recorded as being once in the possession of George E Pritchett FSA, FRIBA (1824-1912)

This carefully done painting captures a moment in the town’s history. We don’t know who the artist was, but they were clearly very accomplished, and likely have other surviving works. We hope sharing the painting as our Object of The Year will help us learn more about it and maybe discover who painted it.

Articles – Bishop's Stortford History Society

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Object Lessons Box

The British Schools Museum

In Victorian ‘Object 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.

More about the object box

The nineteenth-century ‘Object Lesson’ is a pre-cursor to modern science lessons. Inspired by the Italian educationalist Pestalozzi’s emphasis on the value of learning through first-hand experience, children would be taught about the wider world using everyday objects as focal points.

Poorer schools would use items found around their classrooms – chalk, slate, coal. From the 1830s the Home & Colonial School Society began to sell professional Object Boxes to accompany their published scripts for Object Lessons, and by the end of the Nineteenth Century these pre-packed boxes were widely produced for schools.

Each box contained items in the bottom layer items from the natural world such as minerals, plants and animal products. The top layer contained common household tools, fabrics and foodstuffs. The layers in between showed stages in the manufacturing process that connected the two. 

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Ancient Egyptian Ushabti

Bushey Museum and Art Gallery

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

More about the ushabti

Archaeologist, William Flinders Petrie invited Myrtle Broome of Bushey to work on copying inscriptions in tombs at Qau el-Kebir. From 1929 to 1935 Myrtle, together with Amiee Calverley, a Canadian artist, spent six months of every year at Abydos in Egypt recording the precise, finely drawn reliefs in the Temple of Seti I at Abydos.

Any removal of Egyptian artefacts from the tombs was strictly monitored. Flinders Petrie gave instructions that only residue remains could be removed by certain individuals. Bushey Museum has items in its collection that Myrtle brought home with her, including a group of ushabti figures. They were recently donated by the granddaughter of the best friend of Myrtle's companion.

These objects, also called shabtis, shawabtis and other variants of spelling, are typical of the funerary figurines that were placed, often in multiples, with other grave goods in ancient Egyptian tombs. They were intended to accompany the deceased into the afterlife and act as servants or slaves to perform the manual tasks expected of the deceased after death. They could be made of stone, pottery or wood but, as can be seen from this example, they were also made of blue/green glazed faience.

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Again for Everest!

Dacorum Heritage

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 1936. Attributed to H. Barry.

More about the artwork

In 1936, Ovaltine was once again chosen to be a high-altitude ration for the Mount Everest Expedition that year. This original artwork for the advertisements, and indeed the Ovaltine, was made at the factory located in Kings Langley. Ovaltine were sponsors of many expeditions from climbing Mt. Everest to circumnavigating the world. "The Supreme Tonic Food Beverage" prided itself for promoting Health, Strength and Vitality.

Object in focus - Again for Everest! - Dacorum Heritage

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DHI08 Swallow scratch-built model

De Havilland Aircraft Museum

This model of the DHI08 'Swallow' represents a pioneering period of exploration in aircraft design that ultimately led to an attempt on the world air speed record. On the 12th April 1948, 604.98 miles per hour - a new world record.

More about the model

This experimental aircraft was designed to help study the performance of tailless swept-wing aircraft and this testing led to the development of the DH106 Comet, the world's first jet airliner. Three DH108s were built but all three pioneering aircraft sadly crashed with loss of life. The company's chief test pilot, Geoffrey de Havilland Junior, lost his life in one of them in 1946. On the 6th September 1948, indications revealed that Test Pilot John Derry had become the first British pilot to break the sound barrier in a 'Swallow' exceeding Mach 1 in a shallow dive from 40,000 to 30,000 feet. A tragic period for de Havilland's but a major leap in aircraft design.

Analysis of the history of the de Havilland Aircraft Company reveals several aeronautical firsts. The DH108 was the first British swept-winged jet aircraft and the first British tailless jet aircraft.

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Tipsy Nipper Aircraft

Elstree and Borehamwood Museum

This is a hand-built wooden scale model of an aircraft that once flew out of Elstree Aerodrome. It is large enough to sit in and operate the controls. These move as they would in a real aircraft. The basics of flying can be taught to young adults whilst they are also having fun.

More about the aircraft

Tipsy Nipper Aircraft.  This charmingly named aerobatic light aircraft was developed in 1952 by Ernest Oscar Tips of Avions Fairey in Belgium.  It was designed to be easy to fly, maintain and cheap to buy. Nipper was the nickname of Tips’ first grandchild. It regularly flew from Elstree Aerodrome as a training plane.

This scale model reproduction was designed and built by Alan Kirtley for the Museum’s exhibition celebrating Elstree Aerodrome’s 90th anniversary.  It is the star of the show.  Adults and children alike are able to sit in the cockpit, move the joystick, and with the aid of flight simulation software and actual video and aerial film footage from the Aerodrome runway, can feel like they are really flying the plane in the sky above Elstree. This is all carried out in real time, so you are able fly from Elstree to Heathrow in 15 minutes.

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John Dickinson’s Desk

Frogmore Paper Mill

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 and built an industry that shaped the local area.  

More info about the desk

This desk belonged to John Dickinson, one of Hertfordshire’s finest inventors. Dickinson was at the forefront of the new mechanised papermaking process, taking out 15 patents containing 39 ideas in the years 1807-1855. This included the Cylinder Mould Machine, a type of papermaking machine that is still widely used today. His inventions also included silk-threaded security papers and self-extinguishing paper for firing cannons, used to Britain’s success at the Battle of Waterloo. Alongside this, he built a stationery business that came to define the local area, buying paper mills at Apsley, Nash Mills, and Batchworth, and building new mills at Home Park and Croxley.

Dickinson’s work at this desk went on to shape the local landscape. It was due to his petitioning that the Grand Junction (now Grand Union) Canal takes its current course, in 1819 taking out an Act of Parliament to prevent water being diverted away from his mill – also giving him an easy trade route to receive coal and have goods delivered to London. Dickinson’s innovations and forceful personality made him one of the leading industrialists of the time and saw Apsley grow into the paper capital of the world. 

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

Garden City Collection (Letchworth Garden City)

This tawa (an Indian cooking pan) was handmade by Gurdev Singh Shergill, out of steel from the K&L factory in Letchworth where he worked and it brought familiarity & comfort to a community starting new lives in a different country.

More about the tawa

This is a cooking pan called a tawa (or tava) which is used to make chapattis, a type of flatbread. It was hand made by Gurdev Singh Shergill, who moved from Punjab, India, to Hertfordshire in 1962, part of a new community of people who came to the UK after World War II to work in factories.

Gurdev worked at Kryn and Lahy (K&L) in Letchworth, helping to make cranes. His earnings supported his family back home in India, including his father, wife, seven sisters, and two sons. Gurdev lived in crowded, cold houses with other Indian workers, rotating shifts so that some worked while others slept. They cooked meals like daal and chapattis, that brought the comforts of home to their unfamiliar new surroundings.

In Letchworth in the 1960s, tawas weren’t available to buy in any shops, so Gurdev used steel from the K&L factory to make this pan. So it isn’t just a functional cooking pan   - it represents the journey of hardworking immigrants who helped shape their new community, just as Gurdev shaped this pan from K&L steel. Today tawas are easy to find and purchase, but this one is a rare, handmade piece of history.

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Addis Sales Catalogue 1984

Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies (HALS)

HALS marked Star Wars Day on May 4th by sharing these promotional materials which 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).

More about the sales catalogue

HALS was very pleased to be awarded the Business Archives Council Cataloguing Grant 2023 to catalogue our records of the family firm of Addis Ltd. Founded in 1780, they were based in Hertford from 1920 to the mid-1990s and who were most famous as a leading manufacturer of toothbrushes. However they later diversified into homewares and brushes as beautifully illustrated by this promotional sales catalogue from Christmas 1984. It contains various Addis products including Wisdom; Culmak; ‘Sergeant Soaky and Major Milky’ bubble bath and Little Miss hairbrush and comb sets. We particularly liked these Star Wars original trilogy bathtime products. (HALS ref DE/Ad/1/7/127). The extensive collection (195 boxes) was donated to HALS by the company when the factory closed and includes corporate records, marketing and publicity, records of staff and employment, financial records and plans, aerial photographs and title deeds for the Addis factories, premises and properties owned by the company, both in Hertford and elsewhere, as well as subsidiary companies. The full catalogue is now available to view via www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/hals

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Roman tegula roof tile, with animal paw prints

Lowewood Museum

A recent find in our stores, our Roman roof tile has been explored by a curious dog which left an indelible mark…

More about the tile

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. Our 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.   

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Naked Mole rat

Natural History Museum at Tring

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.

More about the mole rat

Among the showstopping taxidermy at Tring is a little specimen in a jar – you might have to look carefully to find it. This naked mole-rat was collected in 1896 from southern Somalia and sent back to Europe for study. It was collected by Italian army captain Vittorio Bottego, who was on his second expedition. He returned from the expedition through Ethiopia and became the first European to explore the course of the Lower Omo River. However, he wasn’t aware that Italy was at war with Ethiopia, and when he met an Oromo tribe a battle ensured. We know the captain and most of his men were killed, however records weren’t made at the time of how many Oromo people were killed or injured. 

Naked mole-rats are the only known cold-blooded mammal. These rats live in burrows underground with up to 100 others, in low-oxygen-level conditions. They can live for up to 37 years, which is an unusually long time for animals their size. 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.

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Oldowan chopper tool from Somalia

North Hertfordshire Museum

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.

More about the sandstone tool

A rounded sandstone pebble which has been worked along one side to create a cutting or chopping tool. It was collected by Heywood Seton-Karr (1859-1938), a soldier and explorer who, as an amateur archaeologist, discovered the African Palaeolithic. He found this tool on a hill at Issutugan in the former British Somaliland (now Somalia). The technology belongs to the Oldowan industry , which produced the oldest forms of human stone tools known, dating from more than 3,300,000 years ago, but this one is more likely to be between 2,600,000 and 1,700,000 years old as it was found on a site of this date.

The tool is made from a siliceous sandstone, with large pieces of mostly clear quartz, embedded in a pinkish sand matrix. This material was commonly used for Lower Palaeolithic tools in Somaliland.  At least fourteen flakes were removed to provide a rough cutting edge along one side, together with a point (now broken). The other two sides are more rounded in profile, allowing its early maker to hold it comfortably in the palm of their hand.

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Karma Chameleon Novelty Phone

Potters Bar Museum

I’m a Chameleon and my ring tone is the famous song Karma Chameleon by Culture Club

More about the phone

 Potters Bar Museum has a large and fascinating collection of novelty telephones. These range from the 19th Century to modern day.  Some are in working order and visitors are welcome to touch.  Phone designs include a hamburger and a stiletto shoe!

The Chameleon phone is particularly fun because of its ringtone of Boy George’s famous song which stayed at number one in the charts for weeks in the autumn of 1983.

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Royston, by Night

Royston Museum

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.

More about the postcard

We couldn’t help but giggle when we came across this “Royston, by Night” postcard in a recent donation of postcards and souvenir ceramics to Royston Museum.

We know very little about this object, it was unsent and appears to have been purchased by the collector, who later donated it to the museum, for £3. However, by comparing our postcard with similar ones containing postmarks, we believe ours dates to around 1915. Our research suggests the “…by night” postcards were so popular during the 1910s and 1930s and that you could travel almost anywhere in the country and find one.

Our postcard was printed by J. Salmon Ltd in Sevenoaks, Kent. J. Salmon Ltd was founded in 1880 and was the oldest established postcard and calendar publisher in Britain until they ceased trading in 2017.

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Marconi Clocking In Clock

St Albans Museum + Gallery

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.

More about clock

A clocking in clock isn’t a very usual prize to win at a raffle but we think it’s quite the treasure! When the Marconi factory in St Albans moved away from using a physical clocking in device in 1988, the company held a raffle and the employee who won it later donated it to the museum. The Marconi factory in Fleetville employed hundreds of local people and played a key part in the industrial heritage of St Albans. We currently have the clock on display in our St Albans On Demand gallery – a space where we encourage visitors to explore our collection and select objects that inspire and engage them for display. Since it’s been on show, we’ve had many people share their memories of arriving at work, putting a card into the slot and pulling the handle to punch a hole in the card and “clock in”.

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Moon Landing Plaque 

Stevenage Museum

This plaque 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. 

More about the plaque

This plaque reads ‘Man’s greatest achievement American Astronauts landed on the Moon July 20 1969’. This object was made for the day of the moon landing and was given to the senior trials engineer at BAE in Stevenage. He had written the launch manual for the Apollo 11 rocket that reached the Moon’s surface. The town shares a long history with space: the Blue Streak programme’s rockets were built in the town in the 60s. The rocket’s British satellite ancestor, named Prospero, is still in orbit today. 

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Boring Machine Tooth

Three Rivers Museum Trust

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!  

More about the machine tooth

Museums have a remit much wider than just displaying objects from the past. HS2 has been a contentious project, and its impact on the environment has yet to emerge. It has certainly had a major impact on the scenery and infrastructure in our area.

But it’s part of our story, and when we were offered a tooth from our local ‘tunnel boring machine’ (TBM) it was clear that it was a story we should tell just a part of.

The tooth was one of dozens on the cutterhead, the cutting end of the machine rotating under huge power and moving the spoil back. The machine itself is described on the HS2 website https://www.hs2.org.uk/building-hs2/tunnels/tunnel-drives/meet-our-giant-tunnel-boring-machines/

And so our TBM tooth, small, very heavy and very durable, now forms an up to date part of our collection. It is our Object of the Year.   

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Brown’s, Land Surveying Level

Tring Local History Museum 

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

More about the surveying level

Land Surveying Levels were used to calculate the actual height above sea level prior to construction of a road or building. Sightings are first taken on bench marks which were once engraved on buildings at known heights above sea level (it is interesting to see where these are in your own local). Further readings are then taken using a levelling staff until you arrive at the site for construction. You then have that location’s measurement. The level, made by W. F. Stanley & Co. Ltd, is early 20th century and was used by the family business, W Brown & Co, Auctioneers and Surveyors. Their original cattle auction office building is today’s Tring Local History Museum. After several amalgamations the business still exists today as Brown and Merry, located at the same offices on Tring, High St. Today, level instruments used with staffs are rarely used, having been replaced with satellite assisted systems.

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Bug Ball Collection

UH Art Collection

Bug Ball Collection by Claire Moynihan 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.

More about the bug balls

Bug Ball Collection is one of a large series of works by Claire Moynihan that explore traditional entomological collections through 3-dimensional embroidery. This free-form style of embroidery can be loosely described as ‘stump-work’ and Moynihan builds it up over perfectly formed balls of handmade felt.

The felt spheres suggest moth balls and recall Moynihan’s start-point for the series; a fascination with moths and other insects that are seen as pests to humans. Over time her species of embroidered insects has expanded to include specimens from all over the world. The group depicted here, however, are all British. Each tiny insect is meticulously observed, crafted, pinned and classified with a handwritten label, referencing historic museological practices. Did the artist initially trick you into thinking these might be real insects?

Claire graduated from UH in 2008 with a BA Hons in Contemporary Applied Art and Bug Ball Collection was acquired in 2016 in recognition of her established artistic practice.

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Brass plough sign from Allen & Hanburys

Ware Museum

This brass plough sign was the symbol of pharmaceutical company Allen & Hanburys. Founded at Plough Court in London in 1715 it later became GSK, a global biopharma company based in Hertfordshire.

More about the plough sign

Ware Museum’s entry is a brass plough sign which was the symbol of a pharmaceutical firm and represents scientific and medical exploration. In 1715 Allen & Hanburys apothecary’s shop was founded in Plough Court, in the City of London, adopting the symbol of the plough as part of its trademark. In the late 19th century the firm moved its manufacturing and research and development base to Ware, later merging with Glaxo Smith Kline to become GSK. The Ventolin inhaler, which is used by millions of people worldwide, is one of its most recognisable products and the discovery of the active ingredient Salbutamol was made in Ware. From a small firm making traditional medicines and nutritional products to a global biopharma company developing cutting edge vaccines and treatments for infectious diseases, the plough symbol is a reminder of the early days of the company. The brass sign can be seen in historic photos hanging above the doorway of Allen & Hanburys London shop. It is now on display in Ware Museum.

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Graham Taylor’s Tracksuit

Watford Museum

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.

More about the tracksuit

This black Umbro tracksuit, bearing the iconic Watford Football Club colours, was a gift from legendary manager Graham Taylor to a loyal fan. The tracksuit, consisting of a jacket and trousers, was presented to the supporter when the club achieved the historic milestone of qualifying for the UEFA Cup in 1983. A handwritten note, pinned to the chest with Watford tricolour pins, reads, "For having complete faith in our ability to get into Europe, all my love Graham."

This tracksuit is a tangible reminder of Watford's "Golden Years," a period of unprecedented success under the stewardship of Graham Taylor and the visionary influence of club chairman Elton John. This remarkable era saw the club soar from the Fourth to the First Division in five years from 1977 to 1982, before finishing as League runners-up in 1983 and reaching the FA Cup Final in 1984. The tracksuit will be a centrepiece of the new museum's "Legends of the Club" display.

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