[C. Gadda]

Does anyone know which museum this artifact is currently residing in? When Burgess wrote about it back in the 1950's it was at the Royal Scottish Museum in Edinburough. However, when I went to their website a couple of days ago, I was unable to locate it in their online collection (though they did have the Newstead fragments, and a few other Oriental examples). My guess is that it has moved on, but to where? If anyone knows offhand, do tell! (If not, I'll slog around and try to track down a contact at the museum, but past experience with most museums is that, unless I get very lucky, they'll not even know what I'm talking about, and I will spend much wasted time trying to track it down. Hence why I hope someone here has seen this lately!)

Thanks!

[D. Austin]

I must admit I have no idea where it is but I would suggest sending an email to someone at the museum. If you choose the right person to contact it shouldn't be as difficult as you suggest. I have only had positive experiences with decent sized museums like this. Some smaller museums don't seem to have staff who possess a lot of knowledge about their collection, which is understandable, but I'd at least give it a go. If you have no luck, perhaps try a broader approach and ask about the maille pieces there. It may be listed under a different name.

[C. Gadda]

I took your advice and, to my surprise, got a quick if incomplete response.

They (specifically David H Caldwell of the National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh) did confirm that they do indeed have it in their collection (accession No. A.1905.474). Sadly, it is in storage owing to some sort of new programme they are implementing to the galleries. It is unknown when or if it will be back on display again, though I did not get a sense that it was going to be in storage forever.

Unfortunately, the Sinigaglia shirt is not on their website, a disapointment since I was hoping for a photo and perhaps additional information in their write-up (though I suspect anything they might write would be trivial compared to what's in Burgess' study). I'm going to send them a draft write-up - don't know if they'll do anything with it but they might, I suppose.

I asked if they had any photos of the artifact for sale, but never got a reply. At least I was able to confirm that they had it and what its catalogue number is, so I guess that's good enough.

I'll ask once more: does anyone have a photo of this that they may have snapped before it was placed into storage that they could post here? Especially a colour shot, or perhaps a closeup.