Description (Labels & Markings)
Three paper labels are adhered to the object. One reads '5 Antigua. Dr Denneley[?]' in black ink. One with a blue border reads 'Briggs Collection Jan 1890' in black ink. One is partially torn and reads '4' in pencil with a cross through it.
Event Date
Author: Lizzy Peneycad

Description (Physical description)
Catalogue card: 'Large stone axe, rounded blade and narrower butt; Ground.'
Event Date
Author: maa

Context (Related Documents)
Original catalogue card has drawing of object.
Event Date
Author: maa

Context (References)
im Thurn, Everard (1884). 'Notes on West Indian Stone Implements.' Timehri, Volume 3, pp. 103-137. Plate 8, Fig. 4.'
Event Date 1884
Author: Lizzy Peneycad

Context (Acquisition Details)
Donated in January 1890.
Event Date 1/1890
Author: Lizzy Peneycad

Context (Analysis)
I cannot find an 1889.10 in any of the early books. The only place the number appears is on certain Z cards for W.K. Foster stone items. Except that it is one item short (?see Z 2552, d.d. 'unknown') it could well be a mistake for AR 1889.60, '9 stone celts and 4 grinders, West Indian Islands, W.K. Foster'. But E 1889.213 is listed as 'AR 1889.60, Nine stone celts and four grinders, Briggs collection, W.K. Foster', on one of Joan Cunning's cards.
Event Date 11/11/1988
Author: Lizzy Peneycad

Context (References)
Accession register entry for Z 2510 notes 'Stone axe waisted at butt/ Antigua/Briggs Coll./Figures in TIMEHRI [The Journal of the Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society of British Guiana], Vol. III, 1884, Pl. 8, Fig. 4.

By the Editor [Everard im Thurn] Notes on West Indian Stone Implements; and other Indian Relics (Illustrated). TIMEHRI, Vol. III, pp. 103- 137.

im Thurn 1884:103 notes 'THOMAS GRAHAM BRIGGS, Bart., of Barbados, who, with truly admirable generosity, has not only placed his fine collection in my hands for description... But, whether used for crushing maize or other substances, it is certain that mullers are comparatively common on the West Indian Islands. The GRAHAM BRIGGS collection includes eleven very fine examples, of considerable variety of form.', p. 103.



Event Date 5/11/2020
Author: rachel hand

Context (Amendments / updates)
The reference above to '1889.10' may have been a mis-transcription of '1890.1' [1889.10 refers to a model of an Indian tope, and has now been removed from MAA Nos. Imogen Gunn 22/8/2022].

Accession register entry for E 1890.1 notes 'Twenty-one celts and one grinder/ West Indies/Briggs Collection £6.0.0' [Annotated later in pencil] 'Apparently 28 were bought & are in the museum 25.5.1936/ *A.P. Maudslay M.A.F. [?] -- [illegible]'

The 'M.A.F' appears to refer to the Museums Accession Fund, to which Maudslay was the monetary donor for the objects.

While the Z register series Z 2509- 2528 A-E includes only 25 items from Briggs this seems the most likely candidate. Source field was noted as W.K. Foster based on the reference above to E 1889.213. I have added "A.P.Maudslay' to the source field based on the potential link to E 1890.1 and the fact that others from this Z series are already connected to Maudslay.


Event Date 5/11/2020
Author: rachel hand

Conservation (Assessment Only)
CON.2022.5459 | Assessment Only
Event Date 13/10/2022
Author: Kirstie French

Context (References)
Avery, Victoria and Subryan, Jake. (2023). Black Atlantic: People Power Resistance. London: Bloomsbury. p. 48 (no. 32)
Event Date 2023
Author: Imogen Gunn (admin)

Context (Auction / Sale)
Register entry for 1894.47- 53 notes 'Briggs Collection/ Gibbons £2.0.0'

Carib stone tools collected by British planter and legislator Sir Graham Briggs (1833-1887) who owned the Farley Hill Estate on Barbados. His collections were purchased after his death from Charles Kenrick Gibbons (1856-1918). He was the son of Brigg's half sister, Anne Maxwell Hinds Jackman (1824–1902) and Lt Col. William Barton Gibbons (1892- 1872), J.P. Barbados, who were part of a family group compensated for the Sandford’s estate in Barbados following the abolition of slavery.

The National Museum of Ireland (1889), the British Museum (1889) and the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford (1890 & 1915), and Glasgow Museum (1890) also acquired Carib tools from Gibbons. According to letters from Gibbons the material was exhibited in 1889, presumably to potential buyers, in London at the Baker St Bazaar, Lady Brigg's Room, Kings St Entrance.
Event Date 6/10/2023
Author: rachel hand

Loan (Exhibition)
Fitzwilliam Museum (UCM), 25/7/2023 to 7/1/2024, Enslavement & Resistance: Cambridge & the Black Atlantic
Event Date 25/7/2023
Author: rachel hand

Description (Physical description)
Large, notched axe made from a ground, dark grey coloured stone, possibly basalt. Blade is a large, thick lobe of lenticular cross-section with a chipped and bevelled area at the cutting edge on one face. Butt end is of a fish type: the base of the blade has a wide, rounded notch on each side ending in a small point; the butt is slightly expanded with a rounded edge and a lenticular cross-section.
Event Date 7/6/2024
Author: Lizzy Peneycad