Hunting Knife Combined with Wheellock Pistol, 1530

 In the sixteenth century, wheellock pistols sometimes were combined with swords, knives, axes, maces, spears, and even crossbows, which could be used in the event the pistol misfired. Usually clumsy and impractical, combined weapons were nevertheless highly prized curiosities. On this example, the heavy, cleaverlike blade is etched with a calendar and the decorator's na...

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Plate with Wife Beating Husband, Made in Dinant or Malines, Netherlands, ca. 1480

 The scene on this copper plate is usually thought to represent Aristotle being ridden by Phyllis, but it may be more accurately identified as a general depiction of a woman’s tyrannical rule.Spinning has throughout the ages been considered the work of women. By the time this plate was made, a relatively sophisticated type of spinning wheel had been developed, as seen in an illustration in Das...

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A Roman ‘Swiss Army’ knife?

 As well as a knife, spoon, and fork, this implement provides a spike, spatula and small pick. The spike might have helped in extracting the meat from snails, and the spatula in poking sauce out of narrow-necked bottles: the pick could have served as a tooth-pick. While many less elaborate folding knives survive in bronze, this one’s complexity and the fact that it is made of silver suggest it...

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Egyptian rock crystal ring with a sphinx

 The design and execution of the sphinx is masterful. It rests with its tail characteristically following the contour of its right, hind leg, around which it rests. Like most Egyptian sphinxes, the head of this example is covered by a nemes-headdress, here plain, to the front of which has been affixed a uraeus, or sacred cobra, its tail undulating over its top.  Attention has been paid to...

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The Da Vinci Globe, dated 1504, the oldest known globe to show the New World.

 Dated to the early 1500s, the globe was likely crafted in Florence, Italy, from the lower halves of two ostrich eggs. It is engraved with then-new and vague details about the Americas garnered from European explorers like Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci. It is also decorated with monsters, intertwining waves and even a shipwrecked sailor. He determined that the grapefruit-sized...

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A late 19th-century taxidermy found in a French mansion. Sealed for over a century

 BATTLE OF THE FROGSTwo stuffed frogs with "human attitudes" play out a miniature battle in a work by a Parisian taxidermist, Mantin. This childless bachelor who died at 54 was very afraid to be forgotten. By giving his house to the town of Moulins, he wanted to stay in their memories. After 100 years his house was finally opened and scientists found one of the funniest miniatures scenes ev...

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Galo-roman statue with removable top ;)

 Bronze statuette possibly of the Roman fertility god Priapus, made in two parts (shown here in assembled and disassembled forms). This statuette has been dated to the late 1st century C.E. It was found in Rivery, in Picardy, France in 1771 and is the oldest Gallo-Roman object in the collection of the Museum of Picardy. This figurine represents the deity clothed in a "cuculus", a Gallic coat...

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Galileo and the telescope

 The invention of the telescope played an important role in advancing our understanding of Earth's place in the cosmos. While there is evidence that the principals of telescopes were known in the late 16th century, the first telescopes were created in the Netherlands in 1608. Spectacle makers Hans Lippershey & Zacharias Janssen and Jacob Metius independently created telescopes. The telescope...

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Amazing Lion Armour of King Henry II

 The embossed 'Lion Armour' is thought to have belonged to King Henry II of France (r.1547-1559) and can safely be attributed to the famous Negroli family of Milan, the dominant makers of this type and quality by the mid-16th century. The armour takes its name from the menacing lion's faces which appear on its most prominent surfaces. Perhaps most impressively, the helmet is fashioned to frame...

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Napoleon’s three chamber box lock pistol, 1802

 Gold-Inlaid 120-Bore Three-Barrelled Flintlock Box-Lock Tap-Action Pocket Pistol Presented In 1802 By Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Thornton To Napoleon BonaparteThomas Thornton (1757-1823), self-styled Prince of Chambord and Marquess de Pont, is famous for being one of the most dedicated and flamboyant sportsman of the 18th and 19th centuries, dividing his time between hunting, racing, shooting,...

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Hundreds of romand gold coins under a theater.

 A unique hoard of gold coins from the late Imperial era has been discovered in downtown Como, Lombardy, northern Italy. They were contained in a soapstone amphora which has a big chunk missing so the pile of glimmering coin within was clearly visible at first sight. They all date to the 5th century. Coins from this period are very rare because currency didn’t flow as efficiently through...

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The Hindsgavl Dagger (Denmark, 1900-1700 BC). This Neolithic flint dagger is considered amongst the most beautiful examples of Scandinavian flint knapping

 In the Neolithic period the flintworkers achieved very high technical standards. The magnificent dagger from Hindsgavl with its blade less than 1 cm thick is the finest example of the flintworkers’ outstanding skills at the end of the Stone Age. It was found around 1876 on tihe island Fænø in the Little Belt. The dagger type is called a ‘fishtail dagger’ because of the fishtail-formed hilt....

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Amazing Hercules Armor of Maximilian II of Austria

 Armor is steel clothing. Like shirts and trousers, it offers protection to the human body: textiles help to insulate the body from the cold and shield it against the sun; metal absorbs the blows of swords and lances. But like clothes made of costly silk or wool, bespoke armor once served to enhance the wearer’s image and display his social rank. Plate armor was one of the most expensive and...

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Bible-pistol

A gun hidden within a bible, made for Francesco Morozini, Doge of Venice (1619-1694). The owner of the bible could pull the silk bookmark to shoot while the book was still clos...

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Indian mortar shaped like a tiger, 1770

The magnificent tiger is the national animal of India, featuring significantly in its myths and legends. It is no surprise then, that a sitting tiger, as a symbol of courage and power, would make a menacing mortar, with bombs issuing from its jaws and tiger's stripes visible on its surface.This mortar was cast in India in the late 18th century, possibly for Tipu Sultan (1753-1799), known as the Tiger...

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Caligula's ring

The nearly 2,000-year-old sapphire ring is a wonderful piece of jewelry, but its history makes it all the more fascinating. It's thought to have belonged to Caligula, the notoriously tyrannical ancient Roman emperor. Caligula ruled from 37 CE, but his reign was cut short after four years when he was assassinated by Praetorian Guards—the security force that was meant to protect the emperor.Women on...

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