12th August 2016

Object No. 1

No. 1: Our first object is on loan from St Andrew’s University. This silver snuffbox is tightly packed with ginger hair. According to the note kept in it, it is the pubic hair of one of George IV’s mistresses. The box was kindly presented to the Beggar’s Benison Club by the King when he visited Edinburgh in 1822.

The Beggar’s Benison was a gentlemen’s club fully known as The Most Ancient and Most Puissant Order of the Beggar’s Benison and Merryland, Anstruther. ‘Merryland’ was a euphemism for the female body and reflected the group’s focus on erotic and debauched pleasures.

For more information visit http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/musa/