Originally published at: The reason there's no Guy Fawkes mask in the British Museum's huge mask collection | Boing Boing
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I can’t think of a single extant British plague mask, or even a description or image of one. The famous illustration is a German engraving of an Italian doctor
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“need” is certainly a rather curious word in the context of a museum collection…
“A Guy Fawkes mask has never been acquired because our curator for Britain never saw a need in the collection to include one.”
Can this fine fellow point to any item in the Louvre which they “need”? (“zoot. La Gioconda (Mona Lisa) had to be returned to Italy: Fermez tout! Toss The Virgin, Saint Anne, and the Child Playing with a Lamb into the dustbin!”)
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Plus, the form that has become known as the Guy Fawkes mask is a much more American creation - it may have propagated itself over here too now, but I don’t think it represents much tradition here.
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Were masks ever part of the Guy Fawkes/Bonfire Night tradition before the movie came out?
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Not in my neck of the woods.
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I have an extra that I can donate, but first flush that turd Truss, then we can talk.
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Ok, now I have to rewatch John Oliver’s take on Museums - especially this part at the end (29 minutes in) about the Payback Museum!
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Can a True Brit ™ confirm or deny something my college roommate (born in Spain, childhood in England, adolescence in USA) told me–that in Britain “Guy Fawkes Day” is pronounced “Guffux Day”?
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I REALLY wish that were an actual place…
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As with most questions, the answer will be, “It depends”. There are so many dialects across Britain that there must be somewhere that Guy Fawkes is pronounced Guffux.
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What @euansmith said, but I cannot think of a place where that would be the case and I suspect your roommate was having you on - successfully, it appears. 
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Henceforth, I shall always refer to him as Guffux.
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I borrowed a copy of Masks the Art of Expression (1994) from the Internet Archive. While most of the chapters were artifact driven, the European chapter was illustrated with people wearing masks in various contexts-- mostly folk festivals. Read as much into this editorial choice as you dare.
If I was looking for antique Guy Fawkes effigy, I’d look in the V&A before going to the British Museum. (No luck, though) Perhaps the Museum of London?
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Sounds like the subject of a Julia Donaldson book. Once she’s written it there’ll probably be a crossover story: The Guffux and the Gruffalo.
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My answer would be it’s both too recent to need any context (people are living the context, and the comic and movie are widely available), and is too common to need preservation (still being made, $10 on Amazon).
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I’m not aware of masks being a big thing in Bonfire Night celebrations. I’ve always thought of it more of being an effigy burning ritual; sometimes Guy Fawkes… sometimes the Pope… sometimes… er… crosses? 
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“Penny for the guy, mister?”
@euansmith Having been reminded by this image below, I do remember this type of cheap moulded card mask for sale when kids wanted to make a guy for ‘penny for the guy’. Every newsagent/cornershop had some in stock in October. But that was 50+ years ago. No idea if they still make them - I very much doubt it.
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Those masks ring a vague bell. 
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