Explore our collection

The Museum's objects tell the stories of sexual heroes, moments, and places.
Our collection of curious artefacts spans over two thousand years, covering a wide range of subjects and uses.

Founded on an initial donation by its current curator, The Keeper, the Museum continues to grow through donations, bequests, and special commissions.

Our digital collection features treasured items such as the Meretrix Whip, symbolic of class, gender, and sex work in Roman Britain to the charming Loving Cup made to commemorate the passing of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act England and Wales.

All our exhibits help circulate little known stories about gender, identity, and sexuality.
Our objects are devoted to stories of lived experience.

Featured

Loving Cup

In 1967, two potters from Stoke moonlighted from the Wedgwood Factory to make a cup in celebration of the passing of the Sexual Offences Act.

Winchester Geese

Late-sixteenth century slipware dish depicting three women transforming into geese, framed by a vulvic pattern with the words Winchester Geese slip traced along the bottom.

Meretrix whip

A Bullwhip made from the hair of a registered prostitute known as a meretrix. According to Roman law, meretrices were required to dye their hair blonde.

Fragments

Fragments of materials identified by the Red ‘X’ makers mark.

C.3.3

A rare badge that pays homage to the great Oscar Wilde.

London Opinion

London Opinion is a collection of meticulously cut out excerpts from newspapers of the day (1915) presented in notebook form.

Lincoln's Inn Bog House

Nails said to be from the disreputable Lincoln’s Inn Bog House, a popular molly cruising ground at the turn of the eighteenth century.

Gabriel Lawrence

The traditional figurine of Gabriel Lawrence depicts a burly milkman who frequented the infamous molly houses of London in the 18th century.

Thélème Club

A rare surviving napkin from London’s infamous Thélème Club.

Blackmail letters

An assortment of early to mid-20th-century-dated envelopes said to have contained blackmail letters.

Mary and Eve

An English Delftware plate that tells the divisive moral tale of Mary and Eve that is still apparent today.

Cautery clamp

An example of a surgical implement patented by Dr Isaac Brown at his controversial Notting Hill clinic for women in 1858.

Gill's Monolith

A cumbersome rubber sex aid generously donated by Gill, who plucked it from the filthy bed of the Thames during the annual Richmond draw-off.

The case of Dr Charlotte Bach

The case belonged to the controversial fringe theorist, Dr Charlotte Bach, and tenders hidden clues to the various identities of its owner.

Victorian graffito

This slate wall panel contains a rare example of Victorian graffito.

Soho Window

An installation made from the broken bones and neon eyes of Soho's dismantled underground clubs.

Mistress of the Whip

A dainty music box dedicated to the mistresses of the whip, influencers of the day during the 18th and 19th centuries.

The Scarlet Slipper

The Scarlet Slipper was a love story about a female protagonist, the One-legged Venus, published in London Life magazine in 1928.

Glory hole

An intriguing sgrafitto box which reveals the first recorded glory hole from the 18th-century.

Come lampshade | Soho Illuminations | Museum of Sex Objects.jpg — Inspired by
the Museum

Conversation pieces for the curious.

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