The International Spy Museum is officially the world's largest espionage museum! SPY was awarded the title by the Guinness World Records for the largest espionage museum, in terms of collection size.
As of 17 March 2020, the museum has a collection that includes 9,281 catalogued artifacts. The enormous collection tripled in size in 2017 as a result of an impressive pledged donation from private collector and espionage historian H. Keith Melton, a founding Spy Museum board member.
From the lipstick pistol to the Enigma cipher machine, the artifacts and items featured in the collection chronicles the history of espionage, from its inception, to the modern day challenges facing intelligence professionals worldwide in the 21st Century.
The Guinness World Records is the world's authority on record-breaking achievements since 1955. Read the full article from the GWR here.
The International Spy Museum presents the ingenuity and imagination of real-life spies with the largest collection of international espionage artifacts ever placed on public display. Spanning the history of espionage around the globe, many of these artifacts have never before been seen by the public.
The International Spy Museum's permanent exhibition presents the tradecraft of espionage through the stories of individuals and their missions, tools, and techniques. From the lipstick pistol to the Enigma cipher machine, the quality of the collection is unlike any other public institution in the world.
The Spy Museum is collecting espionage and intelligence related objects, historical documents, and photographs. Interested in making a donation to our Collections department? Please fill out an Object Inquiry Form to make a formal offer.
