Description (Physical description)
A later replacement catalogue card written in black biro reads: 'A staff, of wrought iron (?for carrying head of victim) - the rounded shaft which bears two bunches of bell shaped objects, a lizard and two snakes, terminates in a branching head, the central spike of which is surmounted by bird astride a lizard.'

Event Date
Author: maa

Context (Field collection)
Presumed to have been taken during the British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin, 1897, as Webster became the pre-eminent dealer in looted Benin material
Event Date 2/1897
Author: rachel hand

Description (Physical description)
A duplicate catalogue card reads: "Ceremonial staff of wrought iron"
Event Date 1904
Author: Katrina Dring

Context (Auction / Sale)
Purchased in 1904 from William Downing Webster, a dealer in ethnography, through S.G. Fenton with money donated to the Museum Accession Fund by Francis John Henry Jenkinson M.A. (1853-1923), University of Cambridge Librarian (1889-1923).


Event Date 1904
Author: maa

Context (Related Documents)
Original catalogue card reads, in black ink: "AFRICA | BENIN. / A 1905.777. / Ceremonial Staff of wrought iron -"
[Added later] In second hand, black biro: "1904 E 376 | D"
Event Date 1904
Author: Katrina Dring

Context (Related Documents)
Noted in the register as 'Benin/ Webster Sale 1904' and annotated 'though S.G. Fenton'.

This is written in the line for E 1904.376 but the ditto marks below suggest it may apply to the whole F.J.H. Jenkinson donation.
Event Date 1904
Author: rachel hand

Context (References)
cf Webster, W.D. (1911) Catalogues of ethnographical specimens : from Australia, New Zealand, Hervey Island, Marquises, New Guinea, New Ireland, Tahiti, Samoa, Tonga, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Norfolk Island, Admiralty Islands, and other parts of Polynesia, Benin City, and other parts of Africa, various parts of North and South America, the Malay Archipelago, and other localities / in the possession of W.D. Webster of Bicester, Oxon. Leicester : Bernard Halliday.

cf Catalogue 19, No. 56, (6719) Standard of wrought iron, having at top nine points of various shapes, with sacred bird riding a crocodile, the shaft ornamented with the sacred leopard, two snakes and eight hollow pendants, taken at the front of the king's house, and used for fixing human heads after sacrifices, 47 1/2 inches long (BENIN CITY) £10.0.0.
Event Date 1911
Author: rachel hand

Context (References)
Fenton's antique dealers established a well-known 'Old Curiosity Shop' in the mid 19th century in Bury St. Edmunds. George Fenton was trading at 5 & 6 Meat Market, Bury St. Edmunds in 1855.
By 1888, if not earlier, they had opened 'The Old Curiosity Shop' in London, 11, New Oxford Street, where Samuel G. Fenton was trading as Fenton and Sons. Letters to Gen. Pitt Rivers, regarding potential new acquisition are addressed from Fenton and Sons on Oxford Street and are dated to 1888.
See http://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/rpr/index.php/primary-documents-index/16-second-collection-1880-1900/659-pitt-rivers-and-fentons/index.html
See also Antique Dealers: the British Antique Trade in the 20th Century, https://antiquetrade.leeds.ac.uk/dealerships/36132 Both accessed 2/10/2018.
Event Date 2/10/2018
Author: rachel hand

Description (Labels & Markings)
Adhered paper label notes '['04.273'- this now crossed out] E 1904.376/ Wrought iron ceremon-- [label edge missing] / staff / Benin / Websters S---[label missing] / *F.J.H. Jen--[label missing]'

An attached green card label has a hand written number, '6719'.
An attached brown card label has a hand written number, '678.'
Event Date 25/11/2020
Author: rachel hand

Context (Related Documents)
Catalogue card reads, in black biro: "1904 E 376 | AFRICA | WEST AFRICA / NIGERIA / A STAFF, of wrought iron (?for carrying head of victim) - the rounded shaft which bears two bunches of bell-shaped objects, a lizard and two snakes, terminates in a branching head, the central spike of which is surmounted by a bird astride a lizard. / L. 5.1" | Benin. / Purchased through S. Fenton / F.J.H. Jenkinson's donation | R. 1905 777"

Red circular sticker in bottom right of card.
Event Date 27/8/2020
Author: Katrina Dring

Context (Amendments / updates)
While the object and number '6719' match the description in a 1911 Webster catalogue, the measurements of 47 1/2 inches (c.120.5 cm) do not match the measurement of 190cm.
Event Date 19/8/2021
Author: rachel hand

Context (Amendments / updates)
'14th - 19th century' has been added to the period field.
Event Date 3/9/2021
Author: Benjamina Dadzie