Curator's Gambit

January 2nd 

The bank sent another letter this morning; I saw it forced through the letterbox when walking in. Ominous phrasing about the shop’s ‘foreclosure proceedings’ and the plan to ‘restructure’ the shop once I had closed it down. Bold of them to assume things. I wouldn't ever willingly close down, but I can’t deny that if this continues, I might have to comply with their request. People like this view history as nothing more than quarterly returns. I wish they would see history as I do — the subtle power etched into a Roman coin, or the soft brushstrokes of a Victorian landscape. The texture, the colours, they all speak to me, each telling me their own stories.

My love for history, my passion, I fear, is a hindrance. A weakness, even, in this cold, modern world.  

The local museum downtown is no better. I met with Director Argent last week in hopes of a potential collaboration between Alex’s Antiques and his museum. The audacity of that man, I tell you. He practically yawned when I told him about the Saxon pottery shards recently discovered in Scotland a month ago, which we could have showcased to the public, in my defence. The man that is Henry Argent speaks only the language of business; of gift shops and sponsorships, not of preservation for all mankind’s past. 

It's truly disheartening to see genuine history treated with such apathy. It makes me wonder what is truly lost when no one is looking. Not just the objects themselves, but the truths they bear in the materials they are made of. 

January 19th 

I’ve been reading through the catalogue for the local museum, to see the false artefacts they so often display to the public. False papyrus papers, old wax tablets, the Chalice of Æthelred, Egyptian mummies—  

The Chalice of Æthelred? I would have assumed this was another fake, but my gut told me the museum wasn’t much interested in the golden cup that barely anyone knew about; what was the point of creating a fake for less money? It wasn’t profitable; no one had ever heard of it to pay it any attention.  

I had.  

So, I read into its placement in the museum. 

Apparently, Argent had bought the chalice last month, displaying it in a lesser-known exhibit: Mayan Marvels.  

Misinformation at its finest.  

The Chalice of Æthelred is believed to have originated from the Medieval Era, not the Mayan ages, but I guess I couldn’t give Director Argent too much credit, now, could I? It's already mildly impressive that he managed to showcase an artefact that wasn't bought off of eBay, honestly. I don't even think I want to assume he knows much else about the Chalice. Anyway, The Chalice of Æthelred is one of those artefacts that linger between the concepts of myth and history, much like the Trojan Horse used during the events of the Iliad and the Odyssey, or The Copper Scroll found in Jordan.

According to the story, the myth, Æthelred would drink form a single cup, his chalice, at every feast, and declare that his kingdom would endure. No, that it would do more; it would thrive. And it did. Every battle, every war, every dispute? Under Æthelred's rule, his kingdom pursued and achieved victory. But that isn't why so many historians really are interested in the Chalice.

Every ruler said to have possessed the Chalice after Æthelred met an unfortunate end, whether through betrayal, battle, or illness. It didn't take long for the Chalice of Æthelred to become a curse, for not only did those successing kings die a painful death after drinking from the chalice, but so did the land they ruled over. King Edric III, Æthelred's son, was known to have boasted of his father's chalice and its luck, only to die in battle in the coming months, and lose his entire kingdom, kingship and all, to the opposing side. Many others shared similar fates.

Most scholars dismiss the legend entirely. I don't. Legends have a habit of preserving truths that official records neglect. The question was never whether the curse was real, the question was whether the Chalice was. Because if this listing, if what Director Henry Argent of the local museum bought to display in this Mayan exhibit (still wrongly labelled, by the way) truly is the Chalice?

Then it deserves far more recognition than it has been dealt already.