Context (CMS Context)
The Spooner Collection was acquired by Arthur Casswell Spooner (1906-1996) during his colonial service in West Africa between 1929-1963, and also by his wife Sylvia from 1944. Following the Cambridge Colonial Service diploma (Clare College, 1928-9), he was posted to the Gold Coast in July 1929 as a Cadet in the Administrative Service. He was soon appointed Assistant District Commissioner and served in various areas of Ashanti and the Northern Territories until 1938. His tasks comprised office and court work as well as much travelling through the district. In 1939 Spooner was seconded as Commissioner of the Labour Department in Kumasi, and in 1942 was appointed Assistant Director of Labour, General Headquarters West African Command, involved in raising Pioneer Groups in Sierra Leone and Nigeria primarily for the North African campaign. He was a member of the Gold Coast Defence Force and in 1942 appointed as a temporary Lieutenant Colonel. He married Sylvia Blest in Accra in 1944 and she accompanied him on all his postings. In 1945 he returned to the Administrative Service, and was appointed Senior District Commissioner, Ashanti, in 1946 and in 1951 Assistant Chief Commissioner of the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast He retired in 1952, returning to the UK to work for Eastbury Estates Ltd.
He returned to Africa in 1956, working for the Gambian Government in the Establishments and Training Department until 1959. From 1961 to 1963 he was employed by the Government of Northern Nigeria to run the Resident's offices in Makurdi and Ilorin.
Following discussion with MAA from 2005 onwards the object and photograph collections were donated in 2015 by Sylvia's son Professor Edward T. Spooner per the Spooner family, with material also going to the teaching collections.
Arthur Spooner's correspondence and papers, 1928-95, are held at the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford. Several items (including Konkomba dancing hats), copies of photographs and their associated copyright and a telegram relevant to the purchase of Sylvia Spooner's wedding ring were also given to the British Empire & Commonwealth Museum c.2008.
Event Date 21/9/2015
Author: Remke van der Velden

Context (CMS Context)
Notes provided by Edward T. Spooner: 'I have also located the Ashanti gold weight which was the model for the carved bird dating from 1934/35. I always remember being confused by the story because the copy is not the same; I remember thinking so many times “How can it be a copy if it’s not a copy”. Very interesting, the key differences are that the carved bird (a) is carrying a barrel of gunpowder in its beak and (b), if I remember correctly, the cannons are pointing forward, whereas in the gold weight one is pointing forward and one backward – very interesting, and I always thought definitely peculiar. But that just to a young kid’s eyes; there was probably significance in the proverb. Maybe Osei Bonsu’s apprentice who made the wood carving “in a matter of hours”, or someone in conversation, discussed the proverb illustrated (an “abubasem”) and that is where the barrel of gunpowder came from.'
Event Date 8/9/2015
Author: maa

Description (CMS Description)
Abrammo. Brass goldweight in bird shape. Illustrating a forgotten proverb or Abubasem. Body in the form of a Nyanconton, or God's knot. It sports a canon on either wing. Stands on an integrated step pyramid pedestal. Served as a model for 2015.240.
Event Date 8/9/2015
Author: maa

Context (References)
Photographed as part of the Art UK Sculpture project, August - September 2019. The project aims to create a free-to-access online photographic showcase of publicly owned sculpture. The three-year project focuses on sculpture dating from the last 1,000 years, held in public collections and outdoor locations across the UK



Event Date 3/6/2020
Author: rachel hand

Conservation (Remedial)
CON.2022.5436 | Remedial
Event Date 4/10/2022
Author: Kirstie French

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