KEEPER OF COINS AND MEDALS

How did you become involved with the British Museum?

I studied ancient history and archaeology at university and first came to the Museum shortly after as a volunteer working on the Colossus project. This was in the 1970s and divers had located the wreck of the HMS , which had foundered off the Scillies in 1798, taking with it a collection of Greek vases formed by Sir William Hamilton. Our task was to try to piece together these vases, which had shattered into many thousands of pieces and lain at the bottom of the sea. I soon became involved and this was how my interest in medals began. The richness of the museum’s collection astounded me.