Although today the Wellcome Collection no longer holds objects from Benin City, it did so in the past. Over two hundred pieces from Benin were dispersed after the death of Henry Wellcome in 1936 by sale to or exchange with other institutions, including the British Museum. See the Digital Benin provenance section for more details. ‘Flimsy inventory cards’ – digitised object cards – can be consulted in the collection’s archives. For more information on these flimsy inventory cards, see here.
The Wellcome Library contains one of the most important collections of digitised sales catalogues from the 1890s to the 1940s. Catalogues relevant to the sale of Benin pieces are included in the Digital Benin archival section.