The Anthropologist's Fund Raising Ritual

Few museums pack as much wonderment into each display case as the Pitt-Rivers museum in Oxford. This ethnographic jewel is a time capsule for anthropology in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, where you'll find a small stoppered bottle from Kent reputedly containing a witch cheek-by-jowl with shrunken heads from Borneo and a cloak made entirely from bird feathers from Micronesia.

As you move between the densely-packed display cases in the dimly lit interior, your attention may well be drawn (by the sound of small tinkling bells) to a slightly more contemporary exhibit, a mysterious glass box containing The Anthropologists Fund Raising Ritual by Tim Hunkin. Serried rows of carved wooden figures in the box raise their heads as you pass by, and fix you with their little glowing eyes in the gloom. You note the coins in the wooden dish at the feet of the group, and dig in your pocket for some change. When a coin drops at their feet, the little hidden bells ring, and the figures raise their arms in unison to point at you. After a moment, the arms drop and they all drop their heads to study the coin in the dish. It's a very satisfying way to empty your pockets of small change.

Tim Hunkin's article on his collecting box is here.