Colchester & Ipswich Museums

Identifications Service

Colchester and Ipswich Museums Service operates a free identifications service to members of the public. Items that you want identifying can be brought into any of our museum sites for one of our curators to look at. 

When you bring items in, we ask you to provide us with your name, address and contact details, which we write onto a museum entry form that we ask you to sign. You are given a copy of this form as a receipt which you are asked to bring back with you when you come to collect your items. It is sometimes very helpful to staff who perform the identification if you can tell us about the items as well, such as where and when it was found or used and any names and details of people who made, used or owned it. These types of information can offer good clues and starting points for the research of the items.

We are normally able to provide a report within a month of you handing your items in. Although we are happy to provide you with information relating to items, we are not authorised to give valuations.

We ask that items are collected from the museum within four weeks of the date that you brought them in. 

We will take care of the objects that you bring in and keep them safely locked away. They will usually be returned to you in the original packaging that you brought them in, however, we will transfer them into more appropriate packaging if necessary. As well as providing information about the actual items themselves, we can also give advice on suitable storage and care of your items.  

Although we are willing to take in a wide range of items, we are not able to accept items that are very large or that are in a condition that would pose a risk to our collections and/or to the health and safety of our staff. We often have interesting items submitted to us for identification, some having quite special historical, scientific or artistic significance, so we are always pleased to take in anything that arouses your curiosity!