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Mr Potter's Museum of Curiosities
is now closed.
The
Collection at Mr Potter's Museum of Curiosities was sold by
auction at the Jamaica Inn on September 23rd and
24th 2003 raising over £500,000. The highest price of
the sale, £23,500, was paid for ‘The Death and
Burial of Cock Robin’, Walter Potter’s earliest
and most well known tableau.
A
curious collection
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Kittens
enjoying a cup of tea, guinea pigs playing cricket
and rabbits learning to read and write are just a
few of the amazing exhibits in Mr. Potter's Museum
of Curiosity.
This
unique Victorian Museum, was originally opened in
1861, by its founder Walter Potter, in the village
of Bramber in West Sussex. |
Born in
1835, Walter Potter first began to show an interest in taxidermy
as a teenager. He began with his own pet canary when it died
which is today still displayed in the Museum, and progressed
from there.
Taxidermy
was originally the means by which collectors and explorers
could preserve the birds, insects and animals they
had discovered from all over the world.
Taxidermy
in the Victorian era began to be a popular method
by which people could keep much loved pets after their
death. Most Victorian homes would hold their share
of stuffed animals.
Having
been bought by the owners of Jamaica Inn in the1980's,
the collection has grown considerably, and even today
people donate and loan artefacts. |
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The
collection now includes, besides Potter’s amusing
tableaux, smoking memorabilia, Victorian toys and
dolls' houses, weaponry and curious oddities from
around the world, including a gruesome collection
of freaks of nature. |
Now the
collection has been sold, Jamaica Inn is expanding its accommodation.
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