The 48 things currently on display

Ref 0001

Paperclip On display

Steel wire, 32 mm. Found in a desk drawer, 12 March 2019.

The first item accessioned, and still the most efficient object we hold: one bend of wire doing the work of a stapler, reversibly. It has been opened out and closed again once, by a visitor, in 2022.

Ref 0006

Teaspoon On display

Stainless steel, unmarked. Communal kitchen, 12 March 2019.

Nobody has ever bought a teaspoon. They arrive, they accumulate, and then one day there are none. This one was taken out of circulation at the peak of the cycle.

Ref 0019

Bus ticket, single fare On display

Thermal paper, 57 mm wide. Coat pocket, 3 April 2019.

Thermal print fades in daylight, so the fare and the time have gone and only the ghost of the operator's name is left. It documented a journey for about eleven minutes and then began forgetting it.

Ref 0023

Biro lid, blue, no pen On display

Polypropylene, chewed. Under a sofa cushion, 9 April 2019.

The lid outlives the pen in almost every case. Two tooth marks near the clip suggest it spent some of its life being thought with rather than written with.

Ref 0044

Drawing pin On display

Brass over steel, 10 mm. Removed from a noticeboard, 2 May 2019.

Held a notice about a boiler service. The notice has not been kept; the Institute collects things, not information.

Ref 0071

Plastic bread tag On display

Polystyrene, 32 × 25 mm. Kitchen worktop, 18 June 2019.

Bears a date that has now passed by some years, which is the only thing it was ever asked to say. It has said it continuously ever since.

Ref 0088

Key, purpose unknown On display

Nickel-plated brass, cut both sides. Drawer, 27 July 2019.

Tried in every lock on the premises without success. Kept on the reasonable grounds that keys are never thrown away while the lock might still exist somewhere.

Ref 0102

Hair clip On display

Steel and enamel, one tooth missing. Carpet, first floor, 14 August 2019.

Recovered from the point where the carpet meets the skirting board, which is where the Institute finds roughly a fifth of its holdings.

Ref 0130

Two pence coin, 1992 On display

Copper-plated steel, 7.1 g. Sofa, 5 October 2019.

Magnetic, unlike its pre-1992 predecessors, which is the sort of difference nobody notices in an object they handle thousands of times.

Ref 0158

Sachet of salt On display

Paper and foil, 0.9 g. Takeaway bag, 22 November 2019.

Unopened. Sachets of this kind are given out in numbers far beyond what anyone eats, and accumulate in a drawer near the sink until a move of house.

Ref 0177

Shoelace, left On display

Waxed cotton, 108 cm, one aglet gone. Hallway, 3 January 2020.

The frayed end has been twisted and licked into a point, a repair everyone performs and nobody is taught.

Ref 0203

Hex key, 4 mm On display

Hardened steel. Left in a flat-pack carton, 19 February 2020.

Supplied with a chest of drawers and kept afterwards, as they all are, in a tin with eleven others of slightly different sizes and no labels.

Ref 0241

Till receipt, 3 items On display

Thermal paper, 41 cm. Jacket pocket, 8 May 2020.

Longer than the purchase deserved. Most of its length is a survey invitation and a note about a prize draw that closed some time ago.

Ref 0266

Button, spare On display

Polyester, four holes, 15 mm. Small paper envelope, 30 June 2020.

Sewn into the inside seam of a shirt by the manufacturer, in the expectation of a repair that in our experience is never made.

Ref 0294

Ice lolly stick On display

Birch, 114 mm, washed. Garden, 11 August 2020.

Birch is used because it has almost no taste of its own. The stick is engineered to be unnoticeable, which qualifies it twice over.

Ref 0318

AA battery, charge uncertain On display

Alkaline, 24 g. Bowl by the door, 2 October 2020.

Removed from a remote control and placed in a bowl rather than a bin, in case it still had something left. It has 1.28 V, and therefore did.

Ref 0355

Glove, right hand On display

Wool, navy, mended at the thumb. Bus stop, 14 December 2020.

Found balanced on a wall, as lost gloves usually are, because the finder assumes the loser will come back. Nobody did. Its pair is not held.

Ref 0417

Elastic band, red On display

Natural rubber, 88 mm relaxed. Around a bundle of post, 4 February 2021.

Postal elastic is dyed red so that it can be found again on a doormat, which makes it the only object here designed to be lost and then recovered.

Ref 0468

Wine cork On display

Natural cork, 44 mm, stained 30 mm up. Windowsill, 9 May 2021.

Kept on the windowsill for two years before accession. Corks are among the few ordinary objects people hesitate to throw away without quite knowing why.

Ref 0501

Matchbox, seven matches On display

Card and phosphorus strip. Back of a cupboard, 27 July 2021.

The striking surface is worn through at the middle, where everyone strikes, and untouched at the ends.

Ref 0559

Doorstop, rubber wedge On display

Moulded rubber, 120 mm. Held in service until 3 November 2021.

Worked by friction and by being the right shape, with no moving parts and nothing to go wrong. The only item on display that was retired rather than found.

Ref 0622

Pebble, grey On display

Flint, 46 g, smooth. Coat pocket after a walk, 18 March 2022.

Picked up for no stated reason and carried home, which is the whole of its provenance. Several visitors have asked to hold it; this is permitted.

Ref 0704

Plug adaptor, two-pin to three-pin On display

ABS plastic, 96 g. Suitcase lining, 2 September 2022.

Bought at an airport at a price nobody would pay anywhere else, used for four nights, and then kept for eleven years against a trip not yet taken.

Ref 0811

Light switch, single gang On display

Urea formaldehyde, white, yellowed. Removed during rewiring, 6 June 2023.

Operated an estimated 90,000 times across forty years. The plate is worn to a shine in one oval patch slightly left of centre, which is where the thumb of the household went.

Ref 0844

Rubber band ball, remnant On display

Natural rubber, assorted colours, 58 mm diameter. Desk drawer, 14 February 2023.

Donated as a ball, though eleven bands had already perished and the core had gone slack. It was kept for what it had been rather than what it was, which is Institute policy in miniature.

Ref 0845

Train ticket, return half On display

Card, 85 × 55 mm, orange stripe. Coat pocket, 2 March 2023.

The outward half was surrendered at the barrier; the return half was kept and then never examined. It expired quietly in the pocket some six weeks before accession.

Ref 0846

Loyalty card, unstamped On display

Printed card, 86 × 54 mm, one stamp. Café counter, 19 April 2023.

Eight further stamps would have earned a free coffee, a target the holder approached at a rate of one visit per year. The café has since closed, which settles the account.

Ref 0847

Coat hanger wire On display

Steel wire, untwisted, 96 cm. Under the stairs, 7 June 2023.

Formerly a dry-cleaner's hanger, straightened for a job nobody can now recall. It has the spring of something that intends to return to its former shape and never quite manages it.

Ref 0848

Pencil stub On display

Cedar and graphite, HB, 43 mm. Kitchen drawer, 21 July 2023.

Too short to hold comfortably and too long to throw away, a condition it has occupied for some years. The teeth marks suggest it was also, at intervals, thought with.

Ref 0849

Soap sliver On display

Milled soap, 11 g, translucent. Bathroom shelf, 30 August 2023.

The final portion of a bar, too thin to grip and too substantial to discard. It survived three successive new bars balanced on top of it before being accessioned.

Ref 0850

Jam jar lid On display

Tinplate, 63 mm, gold lacquer. Kitchen cupboard, 11 October 2023.

The jar it belonged to was kept for screws and then the screws were thrown away, leaving the lid without duties. It still seals, with a click, a jar that is no longer in the collection.

Ref 0851

Takeaway menu On display

Gloss paper, trifold, 210 × 99 mm. Letterbox, 5 December 2023.

Delivered unasked and retained for four years without a single order being placed. The prices have been amended twice in biro, which is the only evidence the restaurant still trades.

Ref 0852

Envelope window On display

Glassine, 90 × 35 mm, torn edge. Recycling bin, 17 January 2024.

Removed from the envelope so the paper could be recycled and the window could not, a sorting the regulations insist upon. It is the only part of the bill anyone bothered to keep.

Ref 0853

Curtain hook On display

Nylon, white, 33 mm. Curtain rail, spare bedroom, 28 February 2024.

One of forty, of which thirty-nine are in use. It has waited in a saucer on the windowsill for a curtain that has hung perfectly well without it since 2021.

Ref 0854

Safety pin, large On display

Nickel-plated steel, 55 mm. Sewing tin, 9 April 2024.

Kept with eleven others of graduated sizes, none of which has ever been used for safety. Its present function is to hold a small card of smaller safety pins together.

Ref 0855

Mug with chip On display

Earthenware, 320 ml, chipped rim. Staff kitchen, 22 May 2024.

The chip faces outward when right-handed drinkers use it and inward when left-handed drinkers do, a distinction the staff observe with some feeling. It remains in service, as chipped mugs invariably do.

Ref 0856

Fluff from dryer On display

Mixed fibres, grey, 4.2 g. Launderette, 13 June 2024.

Collected in a single cycle from the filter, where it forms a felt unrelated to any one garment. It is, by weight, the most democratic textile the Institute holds.

Ref 0857

Single sock On display

Cotton blend, navy, size 8–11. Launderette lost-property box, 13 June 2024.

Unclaimed after the statutory three months. Its pair is presumably in active service elsewhere, which the Registrar has declined to describe as a separation.

Ref 0858

Plastic spoon On display

Polystyrene, white, 125 mm. Office drawer, 4 August 2024.

Supplied with a takeaway pudding and washed afterwards, as if it were cutlery. It has since been washed a further fourteen times, outlasting the shop that issued it.

Ref 0859

Sugar packet On display

Paper sachet, 2.5 g, unopened. Bus seat, 19 September 2024.

Pocketed at a café for a tea that never required it, then carried for eleven months. The packet is intact; the intention behind it has long since dissolved.

Ref 0860

Newspaper elastic On display

Rubber, orange, 150 × 8 mm. Garden path, 31 October 2024.

Used once to bind a morning paper and then dropped by the deliverer, as is customary. It retains its stretch, unlike the newspaper, which has been pulped and forgotten.

Ref 0861

Bookmark, till receipt used as bookmark On display

Thermal paper, 18 cm, folded. Inside a library book, 12 December 2024.

Left at page 214 of a novel returned to the library, recording both a purchase of socks and an interrupted reading. The book has been reissued; the receipt has been retained.

Ref 0862

Phone charger, frayed On display

PVC and copper, 1 m, exposed braid. Bedside drawer, 23 February 2025.

Charges only when held at a particular angle, known to the whole household. It has been replaced twice and retained each time, in case the replacements prove worse.

Ref 0863

Lint roller sheet On display

Adhesive paper, 100 × 140 mm, used. Hall cupboard, 17 April 2025.

Peeled off after a single pass over a dark coat and found to be full, which is its entire biography. The coat is still dark; the sheet is still adhesive at the edges.

Ref 0864

Spare shoelace On display

Polyester, black, 120 cm, boxed. Shoe box, 6 June 2025.

Supplied unworn with a pair of shoes and stored against the day a lace snaps. In nine years neither lace has snapped, and the spare has yellowed slightly in its box.

Ref 0865

Clothes label, wash at 40 On display

Woven polyester, 40 × 15 mm, snipped. Sewing basket, 29 August 2025.

Cut from a collar because it itched, thereby removing the only washing instructions the garment possessed. The garment has been washed at 40 ever since, from memory.

Ref 0866

Umbrella ferrule On display

Ebonised wood, 52 mm. Pavement, outside the station, 14 November 2025.

Found detached at the height of a shower, some distance from any umbrella. It screwed back onto nothing in the collection, and so stands as the tip of an absent object.

Ref 0867

Dustpan brush bristle On display

Stiff nylon, grey, 28 mm, single. Kitchen floor, 9 January 2026.

Shed by a brush that continues to work with no visible gap in its ranks. Swept up with the very dustpan set it fell from, which the Registrar notes without further comment.