During electrical work at the Institute, we came across this box in an attic cupboard. It contained something left behind at the Institute by its founder, Professor Christopher Hawkes (1905-1992) (http://www.arch.ox.ac.uk/history-of-the-institute.html):
We were expecting old notes, photographs, scraps of paper… but no!
Matchboxes!
It is a collection of matchboxes. On closer investigation, some of them have labels – Professor Hawkes used the boxes to store small finds from his excavations. We checked them – they are all empty. But they make a pretty display…
How many cigarettes do you have to smoke to collect this many boxes?
There are a variety of matchbox types here – Hawkes seems to have been a phillumenist! These include Solo, Morelands, Bryant and May, The Scissors, Northland, Double Diamond, Victor, Mace, Criterion, Blue Cross, Meteor, Fire Queen, Old Castle, Camp, Wavy Line, The Ship and the Kentish Map Company.
Archival photobomb
Archaeology Archives Oxford 