New Items Acquired for the Museum Collection
12th January 2022
Here at the Trust, we are always excited at the prospect of helping our friends at Barnsley Museums add to their wonderful collections. We have recently been able to purchase two interesting items at auction on their behalf.
A silver-plated presentation trowel 1884
The trowel was presented to Mr G Kay, Secretary of the Barnsley Co-Operative Society on the occasion of his laying the foundation stone of their Hoyland Common branch on 14th July 1884. The trowel also came with 2 photographs, one a group portrait of employees and the other depicting the interior of the new central offices in 1941.
The Co-Operative movement is at the centre of Barnsley’s socio-economic history and the commemorative trowel and previously unseen photographs will be a great addition to Barnsley’s collections.
2oth Century Art Deco clock made by Krakauer of Barnsley.
The Krakauer family emigrated to from Germany and an article from an 1896 Barnsley Chronicle mentions that Solomon Krakauer rented a jewellery shop at 9 Cheapside from 1887 to 1896. He subsequently moved premises to 3 Church Street and finally to Market Hill where he operated from 1923 to 1933.
Krakauer goods were highly prized and clocks and silver with the ‘Krakauer of Barnsley’ imprint are still found today at Yorkshire auctions, which is how we were able to obtain this piece.
Adding this clock to the collection supports the expanding research on the history of the Krakauer family and wider Jewish history in the Borough.
