National Museums Liverpool Blog - customs and excise museum

Snappy suits!

We're cutting it a bit fine with the August 'name that object' competition, but are launching it on Tuesday 26th August (so the final clue will be on Saturday 30th). The prize this month is this fab but vaguely surreal set of Beatles figures. I say surreal because, as you may have noticed, there's a crocodile on stage with them.  The figures are 'straight from the classic Beatles cartoon series' that launched in the US in 1965, and apparently the croc featured in the series. The mind boggles.

Anyhoo, should you wish to give the Fab Four and their crocodilian friend a home you first need to name the object from our collection. It's an artwork, with a new detail being revealed each day for five days. Enter using the link on the competition page.

Should you fail to win I'm reliably informed that you can buy these sets in the World Museum Liverpool giftshop where they are on sale as part of the The Beat Goes On exhibition.

Strange things are afoot in the basement of Merseyside Maritime Museum, where a brand new permanent gallery 'Seized! Revenue and Customs uncovered' opens this weekend.

The gallery reveals the mysterious world of smuggling and surveilance that's all in a day's work for Customs Officers, with help from unusual exhibits including exotic birds, dangerous weapons and a highly suspicious garden gnome.

To celebrate the opening a busy weekend of events is planned, including displays by sniffer dogs and hopefully a visit by a Customs cutter - as long as it isn't called away for an official operation.

Also in the basement, the newly refurbished Emigration gallery reopens this weekend.

Today is day one in April's Name That Object competition and here is today's clue. To win a copy of the rather nice catalogue that accompanies the Art In The Age of Steam exhibition all you have to do is identify the object in question (it's an artwork this month) from the clues given every day this week, and email us your answer using the link on the competition page. Best of British.

The second of what will hopefully be a monthly feature (prizes allowing) begins on Monday. Name that Object shows a new detail from an object in our collection every day for five days. Could be from any venue and any collection.  To win the prize all you have to do is identify the object and be the first to mail us the correct answer (use the 'contact us' form link on the competition page). As there's only one prize - the rather excellent catalogue that accompanied the recent Joseph Wright of Derby in Liverpool exhibition - most of you will be 'playing for fun', and it is fun as you'll discover if you check out last month's game - bit of a warm up for you.

Hogarth in his new home

Here's a snap of last month's prize - a Superlambanana now christened Hogarth (I'll leave you to figure out why) - happily ensconced in his new home. His new owner got the answer right on clue one so you'll probably have to be there from kick off on Monday to be in with a chance. To make it a bit easier I'll tell you it is a painting and it is featured on our website.

You can also play via the rss feed so there's no chance of you missing a clue.

Poster accession number RD00042.0012

The Easter holidays start this weekend, and as you'd expect, we've got lots of free activities at our venues to keep the kids entertained while they're off school.

In the spirit of the season, the National Conservation Centre are holding five Easter craft afternoons from Wed 4 April, which include card making and egg painting. You could also take part in an Easter rummage at the Customs and Excise Museum over the next 3 Sundays. Please check the What's On listings for the times of each session.

It's a busy time so if you are travelling into town, this poster from the Museum of Liverpool collections has some good advice, which still rings true sixty years after it was printed. The poster is number 13 in a series produced by Liverpool Corporation Passenger Transport in the late 1940s, aimed at passengers to help reduce queues and peak time travel for workers.

'An Idyll' by Maurice Greiffenhagen

If you haven't been in outer space you've probably noticed that Valentine's Day is fast approaching. Wherever you turn in the shops you see hearts, cupids, chocolates and completely pointless fluffy pink things that men everywhere will buy in a panic minutes before closing time on 13 February.

Being a big soppy romantic myself (well maybe not, but I have my moments) I thought it'd be nice to gather together the most loved-up objects from our collections for a romantic online exhibition. So I asked the curators for ideas and what did they suggest? An obscene novel, a tale of bigamy, a pair of boots a painting of a tiff and nasty disease carrying bugs responsible for killing and maiming people in Central America, amongst other things. Hmmm. This could take years of therapy to sort out.

I guess it's good to cater for the hardened cynics at this time of year, as their needs are so often neglected. Fret not though, we've also got some proper romance, including An Idyll, the painting that visualised the word passion, according to the author DH Lawrence.

An improved range of Valentine e-cards has also been launched on the website today, including John and Yoko's 'All You Need Is Love' bedspread from their Montreal bed-in for peace, as a treat for Beatles fans out there. And don't forget, if you're stuck for an original present there's still time to adopt an ant for your Val-ant-ine.

Print of Robert Burns from the Customs and Excise Museum collection, accession number CENM1996.928

Here's a bit of trivia to impress your whisky drinking chums with when you're out celebrating Burns night this evening. If you ask most people for 3 facts about Robert Burns, they would probably tell you that he was Scottish, he was a poet and he has a night held in his honour every year to celebrate his birthday. But did you know that he worked as an Excise Officer?

In 1789 Burns was appointed Excise Officer in Dumfries. His job was to gauge the vessels used by brewers and other traders in the manufacture of liquors on which Excise duty was charged and to charge the duty on the liquors when manufactured. A very conscientious officer, Burns was selected for promotion to supervisor, the official in charge of an excise district, but unfortunately died before he could take up his post.

His way with words didn't appear to rub off on those around him, as his confidential character assessment from 1792 simply states "The Poet. Does pretty well".

If you'd like to know more about Scotland's national bard have a look at the Burns Night feature on the BBC website. Or to find out how modern day customs officers are still 'doing pretty well' at protecting our ports and airports, you could pay a visit to the Customs and Excise Museum.

Detail of a Master's Declaration, announcing Shackleton's last expedition in 1921

Today is the anniversary of the day that polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton found the magnetic south pole in 1909. You'd think that after returning from an adventure like that he'd just want to stay at home with a warm mug of cocoa, or tick off the 'visit south pole' box on his travel wish list and start planning a cruise round the Caribbean to thaw out. He obviously wasn't the sunbathing type though, as he led several more expeditions to the Antarctic after this.

One of the prized documents in the collection of the Customs and Excise Museum is a Master's Declaration that announces the outward journey of his ill-fated last expedition in 1921. Sadly, Ernest Shackleton did not reach the Antarctic on that occasion as he died of a heart attack on South Georgia Island in January 1922.

Another famous explorer who has been in the news lately is Captain Robert Scott, whose moving last letters to his family will go on display at the Scott Polar Research Institute Museum in Cambridge tomorrow. The Customs and Excise Museum also have a letter from Captain Scott in the collections, that he wrote to request exemption from tax for the ship Terra Nova for an expedition in 1910. Nowhere near as poignant as the incredible letters to his loved ones, but still an interesting side of polar exploration that you wouldn't normally see.

Detail of a botanical print of frankincense

It's cold outside, so the latest online exhibition to grace the National Museums Liverpool website is on the theme of winter weather.

As always the online exhibition draws on items from different venues, many of which are not usually on public display. This time we've got exhibits and animals from some of the coldest places on the planet, plants traditionally associated with Christmas and the perfect teapots to make a warming cuppa on a cold day, to name just a few.

So if you've ever wondered exactly how Inuit women keep warm in temperatures of -40°C, what frankincense and myrrh actually look like, or what type of bird would make a good novelty tureen to serve a nice warming stew out of - and I'm sure that last question in particular has kept many people awake at night - then we have the answers you seek. 

Beatles Russian nesting dolls in Sgt Pepper outfits

This weekend thousands of Beatles fans will make a pilgrimage to Liverpool for the International Beatles Week and Mathew Street Festival. Some may find their way to the Walker Art Gallery to see Stuart Sutcliffe's Hamburg Painting No 2.  

You might not know this but there are lots of other Beatles related objects in National Museums Liverpool's collections, which are not currently on display at any of our venues. So for the first time the highlights, including items from the collections of the Customs and Excise Museum and the Museum of Liverpool, have been brought together for an online Beatles exhibition.

To get yourself in the mood for the 'Fab Four' festivities this weekend you can also try our Beatles Games and find out which Beatle you are. In case you were wondering, I'm George.

Today I encountered two very different sniffer dogs at the Customs and Excise Museum.

Two of our roleplayers, dressed as the larger-than-life characters Smugglebuster the customs officer and Sniffer the dog, were greeting visitors to the museum.

Outside I met the real deal - customs officer Claire Dewhirst with her sniffer dog, who were at the museum today doing demonstrations for the public.

If you missed today's demonstrations then you have another chance to see a real sniffer dog at the museum next Thursday.

Smugglebuster and Sniffer will also be back at the museum soon. For full details of all the events and activities taking place over the next few weeks have a look at the What's On listings.

I expect I'm not the only woman who's counting the hours until Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx return to the big screen in Miami Vice. The film, like the 1980s TV series before it, follows two undercover cops on the trail of arms and drug traffickers.

Dancing coke can from the museum collections

If you can't wait to see the film you could always pop along to the Customs and Excise Museum in the Albert Dock to see the real stories of how customs officers in this country protect society from smuggling.

We might not have any Hollywood superstars, but we do have dancing coke cans and a very unusual toilet...

This year, as you probably already know, is the Chinese Year of the Dog. There are lots of canine related items in our collections, some of which can be seen in an online exhibition of dogs.

This summer however the Customs and Excise Museum have gone one better, with real live sniffer dogs visiting every Thursday afternoon, from today until 31 August.

The dogs and their handlers will be giving special demonstrations of how they sniff out contraband goods in our ports and airports.