Transport for London’s Lost Property Office tells a biographical and bizarre tale of travelling London, from bicycles and top hats to skulls, bones and Christopher Raeburn dogs...
1500 items per day, with 150 mobile phones, multiple umbrellas and a few prosthetic limbs thrown in for good measure. From bicycles and top hats to skulls, bones and Christopher Raeburn dogs, Transport for London’s Lost Property Office tells a biographical and bizarre tale of travelling London. Tucked away in a corner of Baker Street, the small basement houses an array of treasures, ranging from Mulberry handbags and precious jewels to a library of books. “Weddings and relationships are a recurring theme amongst some of the more memorable items found over the years," explains Paul Cowan, TfL Lost Property's long-standing manager. “Wedding dresses have been left on the tube, while an invitation to the royal wedding was also left in a taxi. We haven’t had a glass slipper yet, that is the one item we are still waiting for.”
“We haven’t had a glass slipper yet, that is the one item we are still waiting for.”
The absurdity of some mislaid items is mind-boggling: an alarming number of crutches, wheelchairs, taxidermy and bottles of pharmaceuticals rub shoulders with an unexpectedly extensive collection of nautical paraphernalia. There are shelves bulging with mannequin heads, wigs, theatrical masks and fully-packed handbags. The number of high value items handed in is perhaps testament to the honesty of the British public, and similarly representative of their idleness how many lie unclaimed. The majority of unclaimed pieces are put to auction after three months or given to the Red Cross or Salvation Army; ghosts of London resting unseen in handwritten letters, wartime weaponry and a wardrobe of clothes. “The property belongs to London,” shrugs Cow an, “we are just the caretakers.”
To mark the 150th Anniversary of the London Underground, Emilie Lindsten created a photographic collage of some of the items found in the Lost Property Department; multi-layered montages working to capture the obscurity, ambiguity and character of the lost objects of London.
Text by Mhairi Graham
