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Nov 27, 2024 27 tweets 8 min read Read on X
Beautiful things from the past 🧵

1. Gold ring from the 1700s adorned with stars and the inscription "Many are thee stars I see yet in my eye no star like thee". Gold posy ring with inscription to the inner face and maker's mark. Ornamented on outside of the hoop with 16 stars in relief. British Museum, 17thC-18thC.
2. An elegant 2,000-year-old Roman shoe found in a well at Saalburg, a fort that once protected the boundary between the Roman Empire and the Germanic territories. Image
3. Musical Knives

Dating to the early 1500s, these knives from Cambridge's Fitzwilliam Museum have musical scores engraved on their blades.

Each knife matched a vocal range (soprano, tenor, etc.), letting banquet guests sing together before or after meals. Image
4. The bookwheel

A stunning 300-year-old library tool that enabled a researcher to have seven books open at once.

Comedian Mark Normand dubbed it "the original too many tabs open." Image
5. A replica of Newton's second reflecting telescope which was presented to the Royal Society in 1672. Image
6. A love letter from 1913 that opens up to form an art gallery.

On January 10, 1913, American illustrator Alfred Joseph Frueh wrote to his wife Giuliette Fanciulli, using the letter as a small "map" to guide her through an art gallery she was about to visit. Image
7. Roman ring with the inscription "Anima Dulcis Vivas Mecum" (May you live with me sweet soul), 4th century AD. Image
8. A stunning antique Adam and Eve apple with an inscription that translates to "I am your half". Image
Image
9. A 16th Century ring that transforms into an astronomical sphere. Image
10. A masterpiece of optical illusion

This mind-bending gate leads to the grounds of the Theresian Academy, a private boarding and day school founded in 1746 by Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. Image
11. This plate from 1661, decorated with the inscription "You and I are Earth," was found in a London Sewer.

After surviving harsh times, it ended up in a Wellcome Collection called "Dirt: The Filthy Reality of Everyday Life."

After all, everything belongs to the Earth. Image
12. A french medieval songbook

The Chansonnier de Jean de Montchenu is a heart-shaped hymnbook commissioned by French noble Bishop Jean de Montchenu between 1460 and 1477.

It features love songs in French and Italian by 15th-century composers. Image
13. The robot bar designed by Fratelli Borghesani Mobili Image
14. Ombra della sera (Italian for "Shadow of the Evening") is an over 2,000-year-old Etruscan bronze statue from the town of Velathri, now known as Volterra, Italy.

Archaeologists estimate that it dates back to the third century BC. Image
15. The insane flexibility of this 15th century armor

16. A stunning silver locket from the 1600s with Cupid and the inscription "No heart more true than mine to you." Image
17. An incredible gold purse from the Ottoman Empire with its original coins still inside

18. An original victorian doll house from the 1880s Image
19. Ancient Egyptian amethyst pendant in the shape of a cat, approximately 664-30 BC. Image
20. An automatic candle snuffer

A clever 19th-century device designed to sit atop a burning candle and automatically cut off its oxygen supply after a set period.

21. Renaissance ''ring with castle'', in gold, diamonds and enamel, late 16th century. Image
22. Amethyst grapes with jade leaves.

China, Qing dynasty, 19th century. Image
23. This Italian carved mahogany writing desk that belonged to King Carlo Alberto

24. A magnificent axe with heart-shaped holes in the blade. Japan, 14th century. Image
25. Buried treasure, including nearly 200 Roman coins, found in a terra-cotta pot in Tuscany, Italy.
Thanks for reading till the end! If you enjoyed this short journey through time please share the first post 👇
One more: a 2,000-year-old 20-sided rock crystal die from ancient Rome. Image

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More from @JamesLucasIT

Jul 1
The otherworldly natural beauty of Canada🧵

1. Banff National Park, Alberta

2. Moraine Lake

Nestled in Banff National Park, this glacier-fed lake sits at an altitude of 1,884 meters and lies approximately 14 kilometers from Lake Louise.

Its vivid blue color results from sunlight reflecting off fine rock sediment left behind by nearby glaciers. Image
3. For 33 days, drone photographer Martin Gregus documented the summer life of polar bears in Canada.

Here’s how these majestic Arctic animals find rest in the warmer weather:

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Jun 29
The beauty of bioluminescence 🧵

1. Swimming in bioluminescent water

2. Bioluminescence is the natural glow created by some living organisms.

From ocean depths to forest floors, it occurs in sea animals, insects, fungi, and microscopic life.

These glowing lights help them find mates, ward off threats, or catch food.

3. Bioluminescence and the milkyway in Auckland, New Zealand. Photo by Simon Jarman. Image
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Jun 28
Rare footage of extinct animals - a thread 🧵

1. Restored video of the last Tasmanian tiger, a species that became extinct in 1936.
2. Lonesome George, 2006

"Lonesome George" was the last Pinta Island Tortoise.

He died in 2012 at the age of 102 and in his last years, he was known as the rarest creature in the world. Image
3. A Kagu, an almost extinct bird, meets its own kind.

The total population of the Kagu is estimated to be between 600 and 2,000 individuals.

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Jun 27
Animals are the best - a thread 🧵

1. The fist bump at the end is insane

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3. A squirrel stops to smell a flower

Wildlife photographer Dick van Duijn waited two hours and took over 200 shots to capture this perfect moment. Image
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Jun 26
The most surreal villages in Italy 🧵

1. Imagine waking up to this view of Portofino

2. Calcata Vecchia is a medieval gem perched on volcanic rock in the heart of Italy.

3. Burano

The vibrant colors of the houses on this island were deliberately chosen for a practical purpose: to help fishermen navigate through dense fog by making their homes highly visible and easily recognizable. Image
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Places on Earth that don't look real 🧵

1. Alaska has the clearest waters in the world

2. Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia

The world’s largest salt flat becomes a perfect mirror when flooded, creating the illusion of walking — or in this case, skimboarding — on clouds.

3. This isn’t a painting.

These are the magnificent Honghe Hani Rice Terraces in Yuanyang County, Yunnan, China.

These ancient terraces, used for rice farming, stretch across 1,000,000 acres and four counties, with a history of 1,200 years. Image
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