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Nov 27 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

Nov 29
Our brains love to see patterns in randomness.

A thread on the beauty of Pareidolia 🧵

1. Known as "the thinking tree" by locals, this olive tree in Apulia, Italy, is over 1500 years old. Image
2. In this breathtaking shot by Davide Basile, the eruption of Mount Etna in Sicily appears to give rise to a Phoenix in the sky. Image
3. Waterfall of the Bride, Peru

An old legend tells of a couple doomed by family conflict. On their wedding day, the bride's father took the life of the groom. Devastated, the bride begged Mother Nature to turn her into a waterfall, embodying her love.

Read 20 tweets
Nov 28
Thanksgiving photos, paintings and videos and that will take you back in time - a thread🧵

1. Thanksgiving on the front lines of WW2 Image
2. Freedom from Want, Norman Rockwell, 1943

The people in this painting were friends and family of Rockwell from Arlington, Vermont, each photographed separately and later incorporated into the artwork. Image
3. Giant turkey float during the 31st annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade moves down Broadway near 37th Street in New York, 1957. Image
Read 28 tweets
Nov 24
The incomprehensible scale of Space 🧵

1. Perspective is everything. Feel small yet? Image
2. Earth from Mars

This photo from NASA’s Curiosity rover shows the Earth as seen from the surface of Mars, shining brighter than any star in the Martian night sky. Image
3. A visual representation of the size of Jupiter compared to Earth.

With a radius of 43,440.7 miles (69,911 kilometers), Jupiter is 11 times wider than Earth. Image
Read 29 tweets
Nov 22
The beauty of our planet - a thread🧵

1. Road to the Moon by Argiris Karamouzas Image
2. Once in a lifetime shot by Prasenjeet Yadav.

A green meteor lights up the sky over India. Image
3. Magical beyond belief

Read 27 tweets
Nov 21
Rare historical photos you've (probably) never seen before 🧵

1. A boy hearing sound for the first time, 1974 Image
2. The last ever duel in France, 1967

The mayor of Marseille Gaston Defferre and politician René Ribière took part in the last ever duel in France, after Defferre yelled "Taisez-vous, abruti!" ("Shut up, stupid!") at Ribière following a dispute in the French National Assembly. Image
3. When Einstein met Chaplin in 1931, Einstein said, "What I admire about your art is its universality. You do not say a word, and yet the world understands you." Chaplin replied, "It's true. But your fame is even greater. The world admires you, when no one understands you." Image
Read 28 tweets
Nov 19
Cool maps you've (likely) never seen before 🧵

1. The Sahara desert was green 6000 years ago Image
2. Earth according to the Mercator projection compared to the true size of countries.

The traditional world map exaggerates polar regions and shrinks equatorial ones.

Greenland appears to be the same size as Africa, yet Africa's land mass is actually fourteen times larger. Image
3. Who Lived When?

The overlapping lives of historical figures: from 1200 AD to the present. Image
Read 27 tweets

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