The Private Collection of Rodney Mandeville Alcock...
15th September 2025
We have added an additional hammer sale to our auction calendar, and it’s a very special one. On 25th September, we will be auctioning the remarkable collection of Tribal Weapons, Masks, and Artifacts assembled by Rodney Mandeville Alcock.
How Did The Collection Begin?
Rodney’s exceptionally wide ranging and scholarly knowledge which runs through the collection was not the product of a privileged upbringing but of his own passionate interest and curiosity. As a schoolboy he found that museums were not just repositories but gave the opportunity to explore and study objects from other cultures. In short that there was a world bigger than that prescribed by his parents.
In school lunch hours in the 1950’s he often could be found in his local “sanctuary”, the Haslemere Educational Museum and was encouraged by Arthur Jewell, the then Curator who acted as his mentor.
After school came National Service. Some might have considered it a barren time of their lives but for Rodney it was another opportunity. He served in Cyprus and Africa including in the desert and it awakened him to other cultures and ways of living.
His return to England meant that he had to support himself and initially he worked in the Clerk’s office of Haslemere Council followed by a spell in Guildford Museum. At this time he bought the first item in his collection (not included in this sale) for 35 shillings (a Persian kard or knife) – one of many "junk shop" buys!
However, a job came up at Ipswich Museum where he worked for some three years . Founded in 1846 “to educate the working classes in natural history” there was also emphasis on archaeology and generally in social improvement through education. It helped to foster Rodney’s developing interest in other cultures and the objects associated with them. The 1960’s and 1970’s were a time of opportunity for Rodney in developing his archaeological skills and in restoration of world class objects.
In 1964 he joined the Dorset County Museum with a brief to reorder and conserve its collections and revitalise its displays. He was involved with the excavation of the Roman villa at Dewlish, Dorset, developing an expertise in lifting Roman mosaics and later became Curator of the Weymouth Museum. Throughout this time Rodney was undertaking freelance work for leading museum designers, including the museum at York Minster.
He created displays depicting the history of Danebury hillfort, excavated by Professor Barry Cunliffe, for the Museum of the Iron Age and in 1994/5 was commissioned to create a vast archaeological cross section of what lay beneath the pavement of a street in Exeter for the Royal Albert Memorial Museum. He was as much at home making replica human skeletons as helping to restore antique tiles for a mosque in Herat.
He has taken advantage of opportunities to travel to countries such as might have been on ‘The Silk Roads’ and has spent time in Russia, Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia, India and China.
The collection is testimony to his curiosity and belief that objects tell a story and if put into context encourage the making of worldwide connections. We are really looking forward to seeing this amazing collection go under the hammer on the 25th September, with over 440 lots of tribal weapons, masks and artifacts to browse.
If you have items or collections you would like to sell, our friendly team would be delighted to guide you through the auction process. Get in touch today to discuss consigning to one of our future sales.
