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Amongst types of British Museum references, registration number is the recommended modern format, the most common format in practical use and is the only one discussed in detail here. Special collections may require special format references that need to be confirmed individually on the collections database. In the vast majority of cases a registration number can be found to supplement any other historical, sub-department or special collection references.
It is good practice in articles to use common names and plain English descriptions of objects in the article text in addition to using a reference number. This makes for a more readable article and avoids confusion if the reader navigates to the British Museum website and may be unsure if they are looking at the right records.
Refer to WP:GLAM/BM for the associated project page.
Terminology: A number of publications use the term acquisition number as a synonym for registration number as it is associated with how an item is logged at the point when acquired (or received) by the museum. Various alternative synonyms are in common use, however the format (beginning with a four digit year) is uniquely characteristic of the registration number.
Registration number edit
The British Museum has a number of referencing systems for artefacts. Though the original numbers have not been superseded, registration number (the most common format) has been standardized in order to get its collection records online (a project started in 2007). As these have been made public, it would benefit readers of Wikipedia to find artefact references that they can easily use to search the BM database or create direct links for.
Based on the BM help page:[1]
The example number is The Ringlemere Cup . This may be found in published articles with references in variations such as "P&E 2003 5-1 1" (P&E = Department of Prehistory and Europe) so some common-sense interpretation of day and month is needed to reformat the number. It should be noted that many of the on-line collection records list the old format registration numbers, however the on-line search engine assumes the user will apply the above standard format when searching the database.
Multiple object problem edit
Unfortunately the commonly used registration number (sometimes called "acquisition number") is not guaranteed to be unique. To provide a unique reference the department must also be given though this is not used in the collections search. As a consequence, when using the BM online collections search more than one match may be listed.
In the case of the above Ringlemere Cup, a search for "2003,0501.1" on the collection database lists two matches, a cup and a medal. The researcher can distinguish between these either by the common-sense description, or noting which department each is in (Prehistory and Europe versus Coins & Medals), or can try using the advanced search form to narrow down a range for year created or add any other free text criteria.
The collections database uses its own fully unique "objectid" to create a unique url for any database record. Unfortunately this is not currently used by publications to identify artefacts.
Referencing hoards and groups edit
Articles frequently need to reference groups of objects such as a set of tomb artefacts or coins found as part of a hoard. Such groups are invariably registered on the same day and given a sequence of numbers. References can use the same registration number but show a range for the end serial number.
For example a hoard of 42 metal objects found at Sutton Hoo can be referenced as 1939,1003.1-42 (the link points to a highlight page at the BM). Within this hoard is a copper ring referenced as 1939,1003.1 (this link points to the collections database record for the object).
On other occasions it may be overly complex to include a set of long sequences of registration numbers. In these cases there is invariably a special collection reference or common name that should be used. The format of such special references should match the format shown on associated records on the collections database in order to ensure future researchers can find artefact matches. The article should explain the context of the reference, for example by stating that this is a special collection identifier given by the relevant BM department.
BM/Big number edit
The big number is often quoted in publications (particularly for objects registered before the 1980's) and is most used by the department of Ancient Egypt & Sudan (previously referred to as Egyptian Antiquities). These can be quotes just as a number, however if you wish to avoid any ambiguity, these can be shown with the BM department prefix (normally "EA") and should be a single number up to six digits long with no punctuation marks.
In Wikipedia articles it would be helpful if this were supplemented by the full registration number. It should be noted that the on-line collections database may recognize the big number and not the registration number for some objects, consequently the big number should not be removed from articles just because it has been supplemented by a registration number.
Early publications may include exhibition numbers, these are not equivalent to big numbers.
Optional department prefixes edit
The following selected prefixes to the registration number are optional but may help avoid any ambiguity. Many variations of the prefixes are used in publications and may not refer to a department but a collection. If in doubt the on-line collection record should be checked or the prefix left off.
| Prefix | Department |
|---|---|
| AF | Africa, Oceania & the Americas |
| AM | ~ |
| OC | ~ |
| AS | Asia |
| CM | Coins & Medals |
| EA | Egyptian Antiquities (now Ancient Egypt & Sudan) |
| GR | Greece and Rome |
| PD | Prints and Drawings |
Creating links edit
A template to link to the database {{British-Museum-db}} has been created. This uses the fully unique database id to automatically generate a link to the British Museum collections database record.
The more flexible template {{British-Museum-object}} provides a standard descriptive sentence as well as a link and can take a number of parameters. Refer to the template documentation.