I really like this fish hook from the Marshall Islands. It looks like a bird with a snazzy haircut!

Not much to say about this fish hook. It’s a fish with some hooks! (1981.282)

This particular object is for catching crocodiles! Not sure I’d want to give it a try! It’s from Chennai (Madras), India and was accessioned into the museum in 1924. (24.324)

We’ve made it to a landmark today. 10,000 followers! As a big thank-you to mark the occasion we thought you might like to see this umbrella from China. Also called the Umbrella of Ten Thousand People or ‘wan min san’, this type of umbrella was sometimes presented to a popular official as a token of respect when he left his district. All of the donors’ names would be inscribed in gilt characters on an umbrella of red silk. This particular umbrella was presented to welcome the return of a popular doctor from Great Britain.

Today we are looking at lots of rosaries and prayer beads from all over the world. This is a Buddhist rosary from China, and is possibly made of animal dung! According to its label, it was once the property of a blind Taoist priest.

(object no. 21.4.61/68)

This mask carved in the shape of an ox head is from Sardinia, and is another star object. We think it looks slightly evil from the front, but looks much nicer when you see its smile! It was acquired in 1958 (1.9.58/1).

This lovely linen mask is from Holland. I’m slightly worried about its expression (2004.27).

From the tiny to the elaborate, fish hooks come in all shapes and sizes. This example is a double fly hook for pike with peacock feathers for lures (24.177).

brian-my-left-testicle replied to your photo: This is fish lure made from a Coleman’s mustard…

do you maybe mean bobber? Because a lure is used to attract the fish, and I can’t see a piece of floating wood do that. But I can see it being used as a floater or bobber to know where your line is

This object is listed as a lure in our database, but you are right that it’s possible it was intended as a float.

Thanks for your input – we will pass it on to our curators, who can re-examine the identification of the object!

lostinhistory replied to your photo: I’ve been looking at some our star objects to see…

Do you know which group made it?

Our curator suggests that it was probably made by the Haida peoples of the Northwest Coast, and possibly from the Tlingit peoples.

veebeers replied to your photo: One of my more interesting objects of the day. A…

The Ganges?! Isn’t that river quite filthy?? :S

Although the Ganges might suffer from pollution, for Hindus it is the embody of sacredness and has enormous powers of spiritual cleansing. For more on this you can check out Wikipedia.

This little salmon hook is a cute little fella. He has a plush velvet body and has dyed feather wings. He was accessioned by the museum in 1932 and is from Canada.

Just finished processing this double-barbed fish hook from Alaska (1981.331)

This morning our baby chimp (NH.25.15) left the stores for the first time to go on loan to the Royal College of Physicians in North London. The chimp has been borrowed as part of the Objects in Focus project and is in a temporary display called ‘A race of Mankind’.

The chimp is on display until 30th October and will then be on display back at the museum for a short time so don’t miss him!

lottiestoddart:

I was at the Horniman Museum (London) this week and managed to catch a walrus having the indignity of a public and thorough clean. He looked very haughty about it. 

The Horniman Museum are writing about the whole procedure on their blog. 

What an amazing sketch!

Our Walrus was cleaned in preparation for his Summer trip to Margate. You can follow the whole process on our website blog or with Twitter.