The combined ‘Small Performances’ research team from Birmingham City University and the University of Cambridge came together with the project Advisory Board in Birmingham 12–13 May to discuss the project’s progress and the next steps for the research. Presentations and round-table activities took place at two little known BCU sites, St Paul’s Square which houses the university’s postgraduate jewellery design and research facilities, and the BCU gemmology unit located in Birmingham Assay Office. Marcos Martinón-Torres opened the proceedings by introducing the aims of the project, the team, the achievements and work undertaken so far. This was followed by a presentation by Caroline Archer-Parré on the benefits, possibilities and limitations of using object biography as a methodology for understanding Baskerville’s punches and as a means by which the many and various methodologies deployed across the project might be combined. An update was given by Mark Box and Maciej Pawlikowski on the innovative techniques that have been developed for photographing and cataloguing the 4,000+ punches which form the nucleus of the project. Keith Adcock spoke about the advances have made on 3D scanning and printing the punches, examples of which will be on display in museums in Birmingham and Cambridge. Julia Montes Landa presented the work we are doing to understand how Baskerville’s punches were manufactured by studying their shape, tool marks, metal composition and microstructure using typological classification, stereomicroscopy, CT-scans, portable X-ray fluorescence, and metallography. Ann-Marie Carey gave a craft analysis approach to the punches and what can be deduced about their making through an examination of their witness marks. Liam Sims and Caroline Archer-Parré provided an overview of the Baskerville-related archives on which the project draws which are located in Birmingham, Cambridge and Paris and how this is opening new vistas on the punches’ history. Riccardo Olocco and Michele Patanè, gave an account of progress that has been made on developing a digital version of Baskerville’s typeface and the successful five-day type design workshop the project ran at the University of Reading. Emily Watt concluded the presentations with an introduction to geometric morphometrics and how this is being used for the analysis of the punch faces and their relationship to the printed face.
two-day meeting also included cultural visits to the Pen Museum and the Coffin Works, both of which are excellent independent museums that display their metals-based trades in an informative and engaging manner. We thank both institutions for opening their doors to especially to accommodate the team. Our gratitude must also go to Bhancha Nepalese restaurant on Frederick Street for an excellent supper and delightful service, to The Button Factory for refreshing the parts that other beers couldn’t reach on a particularly hot May evening, and to Damascene for the delicious lunchtime fare.