I am having difficulty writing this through my tears. Geoff Egan was 
found dead at home by his cousin on Christmas Eve. He had left the 
Museum of London after 3 decades or more for a new job at the British 
Museum- his ideal workplace. Geoff was great friend and I spent part of 
December with him and the Finds Research group in Bavaria. Geoff was a 
true character and individualist who must have driven his teachers and 
managers mad, technophobe (he and I still had no mobile phone) and a 
brilliant scholar of objects. His vast library was even bigger than 
mine. He was certainly capable of spending his last £100 on some obscure 
German book on heraldry. He was a real vocationalist who did archaeology 
for the love of the subject. I doubt we will see an individual again 
with his vast knowledge. I always used to joke there was no museum on 
the planet you could visit without them remembering his visit to look at 
small metal objects. I know he had lots of friends in North America, 
Europe and further afield. All I can say is that I feel very lonely at 
losing one of my best friends and a guy who was a real inspiration to me 
from the moment I first met him with three carousels under his arms and 
about to give a lecture on metal objects from London to a class of 
conservation students at Cardiff.


paul courtney

Co-Editor Post-Medieval Archaeology
Leicester
England