From 24 October 2014
Monday-Saturday 10am-5pm and Sundays 11am–4pm
Free
A stunning collection of Egyptian artefacts dating back 5,000 years is about to be revealed to the public after being hidden away in storage for 40 years.
Sefton’s Egyptian collection is so well preserved and original in content that it is thrilling Egyptology academics from The University of Liverpool, Egyptology societies and further afield.
The collection belonged to female adventurer Anne Goodison who collected it in the late 1800s. Anne’s husband George was a civil engineer and local landowner, after whom Everton FC’s ground was named.
It comprises 1,000 pieces, collected on trips to Egypt before the tomb of Tutankhamen was even discovered. It was housed in her own museum room at the family home, Beach Lawn, on the Waterloo beachfront near Crosby.
After her demise in 1906 aged 61, her husband had no interest in the collection and sold it to a local man,  Mr T. Davies, who donated it to Bootle Museum and Gallery. When the building closed in the 1970s it was transferred to The Atkinson where it has been kept in storage until now.
One of the more unusual items is a Butterfly Clamp which was used to stop stone columns toppling over when they were being assembled. There is also a pair of Egyptian sandals – trendy by today’s standards with a toe-post – perfume bottles, amulets and “Shabtis” – tiny servant figures laid in tombs that, it was believed, would spring into service in the afterlife.
The exhibition will be fully interactive with opportunities to actually smell the perfume of the Pharaohs, get up close and personal with a mummy, admire beautiful jewellery and beadwork and see a sarcophagus lid that is 3,000 years old, plus many more family activities.