In 2020-2022 MonLife museums took part in a Collection Review Project, this allowed our museums to discover more about the objects within their collections and their connections, if any, to Monmouthshire's story. 

Within the project, some items have been identified as without a clear connection to Monmouthshire.  

Over the last few years, a number of these items have been transferred to other museums.

Items included 1940s roller skates, donated from outside Monmouthshire, were made by Centaur in Coventry. These were transferred to Coventry Transport Museum.

Cigarette cards depicting c.1930s radio celebrities were transferred to the Museum of Communication in Burntisland, Scotland.

Elaborately carved walking stick belonged to Reverend Lewis Price, late 19th century vicar of Llywel, then in Brecknockshire. It’s now in the Y Gaer Museum, Art Gallery & Library collection in Brecon.

They also transferred a collection of souvenir dolls to Conwy Museums for storytelling and a group of woodworking tools to the Newport Ship Project, which has a tools workshop the public can use.

Damaged objects are usually considered unsuitable for transfer to other museums, but the Cardiff University conservation department has happily received objects for their students to practise on.

The museum will now use a public auction in line with the Museums Association's Code of Ethics on the 3rd and 4th of May 2024 at the Salesroom, Pontrilas, under the supervision of Nigel Ward & Company.  

Removing carefully chosen items from the collection is a vital part of our ongoing commitment to preserving the history of the people and places of Monmouthshire, making sure that the items we hold within the collection are relevant to local history.  

The money raised from the auction will be used solely and directly to benefit the museum and its collections in the long term.

The enhancement of collection work continues in Monmouthshire, thanks to the National Lottery Heritage Fund. A full inventory of the Monmouth Museum's local history collection is underway as part of the Dynamic Collections project. Why not take a look at the collections here: www.monlifecollections.co.uk/  

To find out more about current exhibitions, visit www.monlife.co.uk/heritage/