The Museum of Lost Things

Date: Exhibit No.: 001  Exhibit Location: Catalogued by: Description: How was the artefact lost?: Additional information:

Date:  03.12.2026

Exhibit No. : 006

Exhibit Location:  Cabinet of cute lost things

Description: a cheap 50 cent plain yellow rubber duck that I was given at the age of 2.  I spent many lovely baths playing with my duckie and exploring the islands in my bath tub.  I gave her the name of Daisy and she pretended to be a pirate or a princess and made my childhood bath games super fun. 

How it was lost:

 I remember my mom taking me out of the bath one night and I forgot so after i was put into my pj's I ran to go get her and she was gone.  We looked all over the bathroom and were unable to discover where she had gone to.  I'd like to believe that she is out there somewhere exploring and having the time of her life.

Date: 12.01.2026

Exhibit No. : 005

Exhibit Location: Wardrobe of Wistful Remembrances,
Hat-rack subdisplay.

Catalogued by: YesThatTallulah

Description:
A very well worn Akubra hat with a cheap triplet opal set in the hatband that also bears an echidna quill and a hand made blue leather ribbon rose pin from a Californian renaissance faire. Phone number written within but without a country code.

How was the artefact lost?:
Left in a overhead locker on a plane between Texas and Arizona in 2002.

Additional information:
The owner has just bought a replacement hat in the exact same make and size - and it is, apart from missing the marks of much loving use (which will return with time) and the ornamentation, exactly like wearing the original - a hug on the head from a past comrade in the field.

Date: 11.12.2025

Exhibit No.: 004

Exhibit Location: Hallway of Memories

Catalogued by: Dr. Salad

Description: A digital drawing of a scruffy black cat with yellow eyes. He is standing slightly hunched over but in an otherwise neutral position. The background is completely white.

How was the artifact lost?: The laptop it was drawn on died before the file could be saved.

Additional information: It was one of my better drawings so I'm sad I didn't think ahead enough to save it. There aren't even any backup files. I guess all I can do now is start over.

(I felt a little silly being so distraught over losing just one half finished drawing, but talking about it (or I guess typing about it) really helped. Thank you.)

Date:  29.10.2025

Exhibit No.:  003

Exhibit Location:  Cabinet of Misplaced Items

Catalogued by:  a Tired Egg

Description:  A nearly all white puzzle piece from a puzzle that had never been opened. Was gifted from parent to child, and created from photos taken by the two during a return trip to our favorite place. I believe the piece shows nothing in particular. It should represent a small portion of a plain lampshade, however its face has never been seen by the cataloger, at least to the best of my memory.

How was the artefact lost?:  Unknown. The box of puzzle pieces sat first in a bag, then on a shelf, then a bench, until finally it was opened and assembled almost one year after it was given. In some kind of fever, we pieced 1013 pieces together over the course of a single night. We walked away, then came right back to pick the pieces up once more. When we were nearly done, we seemed to be missing two pieces. One of them was found. One of them was not.

Additional information:  I'm sure it's somewhere nearby. In one parent's home or the other's. Perhaps it's lost in my carpet or perhaps in the one under the table upon which it sits. I've thought of cutting a new piece from cardboard. Tracing the empty space its left behind and allowing an imitation to fill the void. I haven't done it though. Out of respect to the part of me that hopes this exhibit will be retired one day, when the little blank piece returns to its home.   ◊

The first of many exhibits for me, I'm certain! What a wonderful way to honor the little, valuable things we can't hold onto anymore. From the deep place in my heart where all my lost things rest, Thank you!

I’ll play:

Date: 28.10.2024

Exhibit No.: 002

Exhibit Location: Cabinet of Misplaced Items

Catalogued by: Florik

Description: A meeple … a strangely androgynous, stocky wooden figure. Sturdy legs spread wide to stand on. Paint slightly worn around the head. Colour: gray, always my favourite colour when playing boardgames. Not available in many games, though.

How was the artefact lost?: One can only guess. Maybe, after the latest victorious expedition into the jungle, they just decided it was enough, their career was over, and they remained there, leaning against a tree, wood on wood, slowly rotting in the humid air…? Or maybe they fell under a chair and were forgotten when packing up at a boardgame con.

Additional information: Missed even by their rivals (red, green, brown, yellow).

Thank you for the game!

This is so interesting, everything about it (the colours, the text, the writing) evokes such a sense of deep melancholy in me.

Here's mine:

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Date: 24.09.2023

Exhibit No.: 001 

Exhibit Location: Gallery of Faces

Catalogued by: The Blue Curator

Description:

The face of one of my friends from primary school seems faded now, The only discernible feature is their smile, wide and crooked. Their eyes are blurs, their glasses - did they even have glasses? - are constantly changing shape and colour, round one second, and rectangular the next. Their voice is ephemeral and transient. I remember that they liked throwing Sycamore seeds into the air and watching them twirl down. I remember their laugh.

But their face is lost to me now.   

How was the artefact lost?: Temporal Degradation

Additional information:

This face was last at full strength some twelve years ago, on the last day of primary school, and has degraded in the usual, linear fashion.