The antiquities collection of Richard Topham and Topham Beauclerk

When Dr Johnson's friend Topham Beauclerk died in 1780, his small collection of antiquities was sold along with a range of objects reflecting his interests in all branches of natural philosophy. Some of the antiquities came to the British Museum via Joseph Banks and Charles Townley. Information about their provenance had been lost by then, but it is possible to reconstruct it in some cases. Beauclerk inherited most of the collection from Richard Topham of Windsor (d. 1730). The collecting interests of Beauclerk and Topham lay elsewhere, in books and drawings respectively, but they were typical of their period and class in accumulating inscriptions and small works of sculpture, items of limited financial value (as the results of the sale show) but of some cultural significance.