Wall case, six shelves
MoM 1961.11 · Oak and glass
We collect the things that hold collections.
Cases, plinths, rope barriers, dust covers, the small brass frames that hold the labels, and the labels themselves. Eleven thousand objects that were built to be looked past.
Display case, empty
Maker unknown, about 1961
Oak, brass, float glass
MoM 1961.03
Transferred from the Regional Museum of Cabinetry
Visit
| Monday to Friday | 10am – 5pm |
|---|---|
| Saturday | 10am – 6pm |
| Sunday | Closed |
Two floors above the old bus station, Cowley Road. The case store is on the third floor and is open on request, which means knocking.
The lift reaches every floor except the mezzanine, which holds nothing but plinths.
Tickets
| Adult | £9.00 |
|---|---|
| Concessions | £4.50 |
| Under 18s | Free |
| Members | Free |
What's on
Cases in Point
Forty vitrines from institutions that have closed, arranged by the height of the visitor they were built for. Until 14 March 2027.
The oldest case in the room was made for a collection of minerals that has never been found.
From the curator
A museum is mostly furniture. The objects arrive, are measured, and are given something to stand on; everything a visitor understands about them afterwards is decided by that piece of furniture and by the two hundred words pinned beside it.
We began collecting cases in 1961, when the Regional Museum of Cabinetry closed and nobody could agree what to do with the room itself. It turned out that the room was the collection.
Visitors often ask what we do with an empty case. We fill it with the question, and wait to see who stops. Members recieve the quarterly bulletin, which is mostly photographs of shelving.
Collection
On display
Each of these is pinned to a stable anchor in the markup, which is the one line of HTML this museum's developer was asked for.
Rope barrier, crimson
MoM 1974.02 · Hemp, brass
Label holder, angled
MoM 1988.41 · Perspex
Dust cover, lectern
MoM 1992.07 · Cotton
Recent acquisitions
These carry no anchor, which is the ordinary case. A note left on one has to find it again by what is around it.
Plinth, half height
MoM 2026.19 · Painted MDF
Stanchion, single
MoM 2026.24 · Chromed steel
Vitrine key, unlabelled
MoM 2026.31 · Brass
Gallery bench, four seats
MoM 2026.33 · Ash
Reorders both rooms, puts every object in a new wrapper and rewrites its label, the way a redesign would.
Support us
- Member
- A. Pryce-Hall
- Number
- 4417 8823 0091
- Renews
- 1 April 2027
Marked data-review-redact by the museum, so a picture the browser takes covers it.
Pretends the museum deployed. Now showing release r1.