Lucinda Birkenhead
The Legends Vault began, as the best collections do, with a single object. In 1993, Lucinda Birkenhead — then a postgraduate researcher in comparative folklore — acquired a small carved obsidian figure at a Marrakesh souk. Its origin was unclear, its age debated. But something about it stayed with her.
Over the next three decades she assembled one of the most extraordinary private collections of mythological artefacts in the world, sourcing from estate sales, archaeological journals, private collectors, and her own fieldwork across four continents.
"Every object in this collection was acquired because it made me feel something. If it made me feel nothing, I put it back."
— Lucinda Birkenhead, founderIn 2019 she opened the doors of The Legends Vault to the public, believing these objects should be seen and wondered at — not locked in storage or sold at auction.
