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The Artefacts Quiz ‘15
Navin Rajaram
Rules
• Written Quiz
• Teams of 2
• 46 Questions worth I don’t know how many points
• Multi-part questions – each part worth 1 point
• Good luck!
• Dating to around 200 BC, the first of this collective group of objects
was discovered by Wilhelm König in the basement of the National
Museum of Iraq in 1938.
• While most archaelogists believe these were storage vessels for
sacred scrolls, König proposed a hypothesis, that has since been
tested by pouring lemon juice, grape juice or vinegar in the vessel
and testing applications such as coin minting and jewelry.
• If proven, the hypothesis might establish these objects as
predecessors to a seminal 1800s discovery.
What is the collective term for these objects, referring to the city
where they were discovered and their intended purpose?
1
• Possibly the most iconic
creation of American industrial
designer David Rowland, the
object you see here is called
the 40/4 (to be read as “40 by
4” or “40 in 4”) and has been in
continuous production since
1956 owing to its comfort,
simple design and ease of
production/storage.
Why is it called the 40/4?
2
• One of the items displayed at the
Smithsonian Museum, this object symbolizes
a certain American industry’s obsession with
standardization and getting things exactly
right every single time.
What is the purpose of this object?
3
• In ancient Roman religion and magic, these objects symbolized
the divine phallus and were representative of the god who
protected one from sorcery, witchcraft, envy and evil eyes.
• It was customary to use amulets in these shapes, particularly
among soldiers who used a “fist and phallus” variant as good
luck charms.
• The Latin term for these s gives us an English word that
originally implied their use as magic and hence the current
meaning “to enchant or bewitch”.
Name these artefacts or the derived English word.
4
• Designed in 1876 by Henry Dreyfuss, the Western Electrics (WE)
Model 302 phone was the first telephone to use ringer and
network circuitry.
• Deployed on the Bell system in 1936, the phone made multiple
appearances in films and TV shows, but is fondly remembered
by collectors as the ____ phone in reference to its multiple
appearances in a 1950s TV comedy where the titular protagonist
often speaks animatedly on the phone.
Name the show or fill in the blank the protagonist’s name.
5
• A collector’s item today, the Holloway Prison brooch was once
described as the Victoria Cross of a certain group of people and
was first awarded at an Albert Hall meeting in 1909.
• Designed by Sylvia _____, the brooch incorporates the portcullis
symbol of the House of Commons, has a gate and hanging
chains in silver, and the superimposed broad arrow
representing the convict’s symbol in purple, green and white,
the adopted colours of the group.
Which group awarded these brooches?
Who, among this group, were eligible to be awarded these
brooches?
6
• The QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss was a light 47-mm naval gun
introduced in 1886 to defend against fast vessels such as
torpedo boats and later submarines.
• Sometime in 1961, in response to complaints that an existing six-
pounder was too loud, the Royal Navy salvaged one such
Hotchkiss 3-pounder that saw action in WWI’s Battle of Jutland
and presented it to a party.
• The Hotchkiss continues to serve the party well without any
further cause for complaint.
Who/What is the party that received the 3-pounder?
What specific use is the Hotchkiss being put to?
7
• Arthur Irwin, a Canadian manager and part-time
sportsperson, is credited with what was once considered a
sporting innovation.
• While playing with Providence in 1883, Irwin is said to have
injured the third and fourth fingers in his left hand and came
up with this to ensure he missed no more games.
• By 1884, other players had adopted it and the object came
to be called the “Irwin _____”.
What ubiquitous sporting artefact?
8
• The current appearance of this dining table artefact is
attributed to Cardinal Richelieu.
• In 1637, the Cardinal is said to have been horrified when he
saw a guest pick his teeth, as a result of which he ordered a
change to be made.
• In 1669, Louis XIV, possibly to avoid succession
conspiracies from being executed at dinner, made it
mandatory for French cutlers to forge this object the way
Richelieu had ordered and it has stayed that way ever since.
What object?
What exact change?
9
• In 2014, the Cleveland Rock & Roll Hall of Fame & Museum
announced that the artefact, containing the ashes of X, will be
moved to make way for Y’s leotards from her tours.
• The announcement generated equal parts outrage and
amusement with some people saying “this was the guy who
started it all” while others went philosophical with “Is Y even rock
and roll?”.
• Today, a new exhibit for X, in a less frequented part of the
museum, features his microphones; the ashes have since been
returned to a Cleveland cemetery.
Name X and Y.
10
You are likely to see a collection of such artefacts if you
were to visit specific museums in Maine (USA) or
Scotland/England.
What are these artefacts you see here? (generic term
is fine)
What kind of a museum would you be visiting?
11
• Contrary to appearance, these Victorian era items are not the
royal family’s table tennis accessories.
• The usage of these objects involved washing them first with
salted water to prevent them from becoming sticky, then using
them to squeeze excess moisture out of a daily use commodity,
before working this commodity into a regular shape.
• Some of these objects also came with patterns that could be
stamped on the commodity to identify the maker.
What were these objects called or briefly explain their
purpose?
12
(Not strictly artefacts, but please adjust!)
• In 1927, someone had the bright idea of doing a flying American
tour for promotions with the cargo; consequently a Ryan
Brougham plane, similar to the one that Lindbergh flew was
modified for this purpose.
• Five hours into the flight from San Diego to New York, the plane
crashed into the Arizona desert.
• The pilot went looking for help and 4 days later, the cargo was
still found to be in good shape, having survived some lonely
moments of anxiety.
Who/what was the cargo?
13
• Coinciding with the 1930s national craze for streamlining goods of all
kinds, Raymond Loewy patented two designs – one derived from a
teardrop and the other derived from a sphere.
• The teardrop was the one chosen for fabrication and when the 5½
inch high prototype made its debut at the 1934 New York Industrial
Arts Exposition, it incited furious debate between streamlined style
and functionalism – the former was criticized as giving more
importance to form over function.
• Loewy himself defended his design saying “My critics did not
understand that by streamlining, I tried to minimize maintenance,
cleaning and hence simplify function.”
What object of daily use was the teardrop bombshell?
14
• Philippe Starck was staring at his plate of calamari at Amalfi,
pondering his latest commission from the Italian design house Alessi.
• As he noticed that he had no _____ to add zing to his calamari, he got
an idea that he began scribbling on a paper napkin.
• Twenty years on, the greasy, _____-stained napkin is at the Alessi
Museum and depicts the very first doodles of what would become a
best-selling design.
What object, that Michael Czerwinski, of London's Design
Museum described as “a perfectly adequate kitchen drawer filler
with aspirational desirability” and is eerily reminiscent of a Martin
tripod?
15
• This oak writing table was installed right next to a window in the
Cristal-Room, built on top of Hauteville House at St. Peter Port,
from where the individual could look across the Channel Islands
to his beloved homeland that he was exiled from.
• The table was installed so as to allow him to write while
standing, a method he preferred over the conventional seated
method.
• A unique piece of literary heritage, the table is said to have
played a part in the completion of one of his most famous works,
as well as numerous poems, essays and letters during the years
1856-1870 when he stayed here.
Who?
16
• These are accessories used in the context of a repair technique
– A ______ egg made of stone, porcelain, wood, or other hard
material is inserted into the item to be repaired to provide a firm
foundation. Once the repairs are finished, the egg is removed.
– A ______ mushroom is a tool usually made of wood, on which the
item to be repaired is stretched and gathered tightly around the
stalk to hold it in place during the process.
– A ______ gourd is a hollow dried gourd with a pronounced neck,
on which the item under repair is stretched and held in place.
What repair technique are all these accessories used in?
What specific item do these accessories help in repairing?
17
• Robert Heinlein said he got an idea for these devices after reading a
1918 article in Popular Mechanics, where an individual was affected
with myasthenia gravis, an auto-immune disorder that causes muscle
weakness and fatigue.
• Heinlein went on to publish the short story _______ (1942) in which
the protagonist ______ Farthingwaite-Jones patents a device to help
him overcome a similar disability.
• Today, such devices used in chemical, nuclear and biological
research are nicknamed _________s in tribute to Heinlein’s story title.
What is the generic name for such devices?
What nickname, that might remind you of searching in crowds, are
these devices known by?
18
• In 1786, the gentleman (pic) won an essay competition and
decided that he would devote his time towards a cause.
• To research on this front, he visited a trading ship, The Lively, and
procured samples of beeswax, carved ivory, palm oil and
peppers, which he began adding to his collection.
• The result was a travelling chest, a veritable museum of images
during his speeches, to convince people that a mutually
beneficial system driven by trade must be adopted.
Who was the gentleman?
What campaign did the travelling chest serve?
19
#TCQ – Typical Commie Question
• Created by painter and porcelain artist, Mikhail Adamovich,
this decorative plate was selected as one of 100 objects that
the British Museum would use to teach world history.
• Commissioned in 1921, it shows a revolutionary worker
stamping on something, represented in Futurist style, to
release industrial power that benefits the general
proletariat as opposed to a selected set of people.
What is the worker stamping on?
20
• Titled “In the dull village”, it is one of a series of etchings and aquatint
prints made in 1966 by an artist for a selection of poems.
• The young artist discovered the writer’s body of work in the 1950s
and went on to visit Cairo, Luxor and Alexandria in the hope that he
could gain inspiration from the same liberal environs that influenced
the writer.
• This particular etching, while symbolic of the writer’s work, is based
on drawings of the artist’s partially clothed friends in his Notting Hill
home.
Name the artist.
Name the writer.
21
• This lantern was originally donated to
the University of Oxford in 1641 by the
son of the Justice of Peace, who may have
grabbed it from the individual in
question, a few decades ago.
• Made of sheet iron with a holder for a
candle inside, it has a hinged door which
acts a window for light to glow and an
adjustable vent to conceal the light and
hence hide the user’s presence.
• The user was unable to put the candle
flame inside to use, despite best
intentions.
In whose hand was the lantern found ?
22
• In 1908, Dr. Julius Neubronner patented a miniature
photography device activated by a timing mechanism,
demonstrating it at the 1911 expositions in Dresden and Paris.
• Demos involved photos such as the ones shown, that were
developed on the spot and turned into postcards.
• The invention gained brief interest from the Prussian ministry,
but with better methods at their disposal, the technology did
not find much use.
What was special about this camera?
23
• Halteres, which weighed between 1 kg – 4.5 kg were a specific
category of dumb-bells in Ancient Greece, that were used
both as lifting weights and in the older version of a modern
Olympic sport.
• The older version involved the athlete holding one haltere in
each hand, swinging them forward to increase momentum and
using them appropriately to change one’s center of gravity.
What modern Olympic sport once involved the use of
halteres?
24
• The object you see here is an early 1900s fabric cylinder
designed to be drawn up and over the nose and mouth, with
the open end having leather straps for tightening.
• While there was no filtering mechanism, the fabric would
have been dipped in neutralizing agents such as phenol or
sodium hyposulphite.
• Statistics indicate that the efficacy of this item was correlated
to better communication, ability to supply faster to the
frontlines and general troop morale because of emotional
connects.
What was the purpose of this object?
25
• Called the Chertsey tiles, these artefacts were discovered
accidentally in 1852 at a Benedictine Abbey in Surrey and
depict two historical individuals.
• Date to around 1250 AD, the tile motif takes the liberty of
showing one person vanquishing the other, perhaps to
improve morale and divert public attention from what was in
fact a loss.
• The tiles also fuelled a historically inaccurate story, later
copied in manuscripts, wall paintings and sculpture.
Name both parties in the motif. (no part points)
What is historically inaccurate about this tile or other such
similar art from that time?
26
• The next 7 Questions (multiple parts in each
question but one of the answer parts links to
the theme) have a common theme running
through them.
• No points for the theme, but once you figure
out the theme, atleast one of the parts in each
question is workoutable, if not both.
• Like many 18th century gentleman, he had his own cabinet of
curiosities that included a staghorn coral, an Indian feather from
the Cherokees, a telescope, a globe, swords, guns and others.
• Possibly the most curious artefact in this collection is something
that came from the order Pristidae, a member of the ray family.
• The artefact consists of a protusion of cartilage and bone with
‘teeth’, that are actually scales, and creates an appearance of a
common woodworking instrument.
Whose collection is this artefact part of?
What is the creature, whose anatomical part this is?
What common term, from the days of public speaking in Ancient
Rome, is applied to this part?
27
• This Fannon MP-5 bullhorn is one of the first artefacts that was
put on display at the ______ Center opened in Dallas.
• Three days after the incident, when the individual visited the
area, he wanted to make an impromptu address, but since the
bullhorn’s range was just 300 yards, someone in the crowd
yelled they could not hear him.
• Acknowledging them, he said “I can hear you! The rest of the
world hears you! And the people who did this will hear all of us
soon.”
Who?
In the context of what incident were these words spoken?
28
• In 1961, three days before stepping aside, he made a speech
that touched upon the nation’s prosperity, but warned about its
growing expenditure on arming itself.
• That address has endured over time, the teleprompter script is
preserved along with an Emmy Award (1956) in a museum in
his honour.
• The speech also introduced a phrase about an influential
nexus that is now the norm in most nations “we must guard
against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether
sought or unsought, by the ______ _______ _____”
Who? What phrase?
29
• Two months after the tragedy, he dictated a letter to his
friend John B. Murray, in which he spoke of being
“prostrated to the very earth by this dreadful event”.
• Two copies of this letter – one printed, the other in the
handwriting of John B Murray are displayed at the
headquarter of the Players, the private social club for
actors, that was founded by him.
Who wrote this letter? (full name please)
What was he referring to?
30
• A regulation officer’s boatcloak, garments of this type were
designed to protect the wearer from the cold and the clothing
from the effects of spray.
• The garment opens at the front and is fitted with two frogs
(knotted lengths of braided cord), which engage to secure the
cloak and close it.
• Made at a local navy yard, this particular garment kept the
wearer warm during a particularly icy trip to discuss the future
of a continent emerging from a near apocalypse.
Name the wearer.
What trip are we talking about?
31
• The operation, as part of which this artefact found frequent use,
may remind one of indigestion, but the naming implied a swift,
repetitive action to save as many compromised lives as
possible.
• The object is said to have been used by close to 7000 people,
all of whom might remember it as the final step to redemption.
• Much of the success of the operation is attributed to the
diligent sense of urgency and planning shown by the man in
charge, in whose commemorative museum this item now
resides.
Name the man.
Where exactly was this object originally present?
32
• Simple one: artefact connected with whose last
moments? What exactly is this artefact?
33
THEME ENDS..
• One of the reasons this set of pajamas was
designed was to encourage children to
actively participate in bedtime stories.
What was the other reason, a solution to a
common parental complaint?
34
• Soon after his death in 1871, in accordance with his will, his
brain was donated towards the advancement of human
knowledge and the good of the human race.
• A paper in a 1909 edition of the Philosophical Transactions of
the Royal Society described the dissection of his brain and
notes that there was very little senile wasting of gyri, perhaps
hinting at a very active mind even at 80 years of age.
• One half of the brain resides at the Hunterian Museum, while
the other is at the Science Museum in London.
Which man, who made a huge difference to science?
35
• Just 10 miles south of San Francisco airport, this
museum is home to a quirky collection and claims to
have atleast one sample of every ______ ______ ever
sold.
• Its pièce de résistance is the World’s Largest ______
_______, a behemoth snowman standing at 7 ft, 20 in
tall – much taller than an average one, seen in stores.
What childhood indulgence is this museum devoted
to?
36
• The use of this artefact involves a fixed end, while the other
end vibrates on a plain surface; the harder the plain surface,
harder the vibrating object had to be.
• The object was manufactured in two types – spherical and
elliptical, the former allows for more contact and hence better
output quality while the latter has less contact area, leading to
better sensitivity.
• As plain surface materials evolved, the object was
manufactured with hard materials like sapphire or diamond.
What term, deriving from Latin for a stake, is used for these
objects and is familiar to us in a smart technology context?
In what larger device are these objects used as components?
37
• A bur is a generic term for a cutting surface, made of a
multifluted tungsten carbide diamond coated tip or a
stainless steel multifluted rosehead.
• ________ burs are classified by shapes such as round
(sizes ¼ to 10) inverted cone sizes (sizes 33 ½ to 90L),
pear shaped, fissured and also by type of shank such as
long shanks used in slow speed or a friction grip bur used
in high speed.
What field of human endeavor, a trying one for all
parties involved, are these burs useful in?
38
• The term originally referred to a simple device used to pry the
caps of old school crown cork sealed bottles.
• Before pull tab beer cans came into vogue in the 1960s, the
same term was used for bottle/can-openers that punctured the
lids of flat top cans.
• Etymological theories are hazy but the most popular one says
that these openers looked like large, ornate items used by
monks for places of worship or areas where they sealed beer.
What term, that may just be a jocular reference to the fact
that opening a beer is a religious experience?
39
• A type of electric guitar pickup, it uses two magnetic coils in
which one coil with its north poles oriented up (towards the
strings) is paired with another coil whose south poles are
oriented up.
• This achieves phase cancellation and cancels out the ______
(X) sound that could be caused by power-amps, processors,
mixers and other equipment operating on AC.
• The name of the pickup comes from the fact that it “______s (Y)
the _____ (X)”, literally killing the undesired sound.
What is this pickup called? (XYer)
40
• Originally an independent museum, this collection of objects
was moved to the science museum at Minnesota and is now an
exhibit there.
• Examples of objects displayed here include:
– A Prostate Gland Warmer (a 4.25 inch probe with a blue
light bulb at the end)
– A machine that determines the personality by measuring
the bumps on one’s head
– A rejuvenator that uses magnetism, radio waves, infra-red
and ultra-violet rays and so on…
What is this museum devoted to?
41
• If you were a Duke University Student in the 1940s or 1950s, you
would not have been able to check an online catalog at the David
M. Rubenstein library and retrieve the book of your choice.
• What you did was you consulted the card catalog and wrote the call
number on a paper slip, handed that slip to a staff at the Circulation
Desk and after a few restless moments, your book would arrive at
the desk through an electric book-lift or dumbwaiter.
• The process of locating the book was somewhat simplified by using
what you see here.
How were these objects used? (2 key words in your answer will
help fetch full points)
42
• While everyone else would call it a _____ smoker, it is just
called a smoker in the profession in which it is used as a
distraction mechanism.
• Credited to Moses Quinby, the first known person of this
profession in the USA, the invention operates on the principle
that smoke masks alarm pheromones such as isopentyl acetate
and consequently numbing of defensive responses.
• In addition, smoke tends to create a feeding frenzy, leading to
distended abdomens, that make it tougher to react
defensively.
What profession of people use the smoker?
43
• In 1849, Auguste Clesinger, a sculptor, was rushed to the man’s
deathbed to ensure he got this item along with a face mask,
the latter a ghastly artefact in its own right.
• Describing this particular item in action, Stephen Heller, a
biographer once said “they had an ability to suddenly expand
and cover a third of the total space, akin to the opening of the
mouth of a serpent about to swallow a rabbit whole.”
What is this artefact, that has copies in the Musee de la Vie
Romantique (Paris), the Hunterian Museum & Art Gallery
(UK) and the _____ museum in Rapperswill, Switzerland?
44
• Atleast 7 assassination attempts were made on King Louis-Phillipe
of the French July Monarchy, but none so fantastic as the one
orchestrated by a Corsican, Giuseppe Fieschi, who built this
diabolical device to kill the King.
• Rather than fire a few shots at the king, Fieschi’s weapon of wood
and iron had 25 barrels that shot all at once in different directions.
• On July 28, 1835, it was setup on the 3rd storey of the Boulevard du
Temple Paris and when it fired, 18 people were killed and 42
injured but none from the royal family; in fact Pieschi himself was
injured due to a backfire.
What was this gun called, in reference to the fact that its design
and intended use was patently hellish? (Unrelated Clue: the term
was later used as the title of a 1934 Greek mythological play by Jean
Cocteau)
45
• In 1911, when the coinage with King George V’s image
was introduced in British India, a certain problem was
noticed on the side on which the King’s image was
displayed.
• This caused all manner of hurt sentiments leading to
the British government’s decision to withdraw all 1911
coins minted from circulation.
What was the issue/what were these coins called due
to the controversy?
46
ANSWERS FOLLOW
• Dating to around 200 BC, the first of this collective group of objects
was discovered by Wilhelm König in the basement of the National
Museum of Iraq in 1938.
• While most archaelogists believe these were storage vessels for
sacred scrolls, König proposed a hypothesis, that has since been
tested by pouring lemon juice, grape juice or vinegar in the vessel
and applications such as coin minting and jewelry.
• If proven, the hypothesis might establish these objects as
predecessors to a seminal 1800s discovery.
What is the collective term for these objects, referring to the city
where they were discovered and their intended purpose?
1
Answer
Baghdad Battery
• Possibly the most iconic
creation of American industrial
designer David Rowland, the
object you see here is called
the 40/4 (to be read as “40 by
4” or “40 in 4”) and has been in
continuous production since
1956 owing to its comfort,
simple design and ease of
production/storage.
Why is it called the 40/4?
2
Answer
40 chairs can be stacked 4 feet high
• One of the items displayed at the
Smithsonian Museum, this object symbolizes
a certain American industry’s obsession with
standardization and getting things exactly
right every single time.
What is the purpose of this object?
3
Answer
Bun Gauge
the object measures the width/height of buns
used in Quarter Pounders, Big Macs and so on
• In ancient Roman religion and magic, these objects symbolized
the divine phallus and were representative of the god who
protected one from sorcery, witchcraft, envy and evil eyes.
• It was customary to use amulets in these shapes, particularly
among soldiers who used a “fist and phallus” variant as good
luck charms.
• The Latin term for these artefacts gives us an English word that
originally implied their use as magic and hence the current
meaning “to enchant or bewitch”.
Name these artefacts or the derived English word.
4
Answer
Fascinus from which we get Fascinate
• Designed in 1876 by Henry Dreyfuss, the Western Electrics (WE)
Model 302 phone was the first telephone to use ringer and
network circuitry.
• Deployed on the Bell system in 1936, the phone made multiple
appearances in films and TV shows, but is fondly remembered
by collectors as the ____ phone in reference to its multiple
appearances in a 1950s TV comedy where the titular protagonist
often speaks animatedly on the phone.
Name the show or fill in the blank the protagonist’s name.
5
Answer
I Love Lucy/ Lucy phone
• A collector’s item today, the Holloway Prison brooch was once
described as the Victoria Cross of a certain group of people and
was first awarded at an Albert Hall meeting in 1909.
• Designed by Sylvia _____, the brooch incorporates the portcullis
symbol of the House of Commons, has a gate and hanging
chains in silver, and the superimposed broad arrow
representing the convict’s symbol in purple, green and white,
the adopted colours of the group.
Which group awarded these brooches?
Who, among this group, were eligible to be awarded these
brooches?
6
Answer
Suffragettes/Women’s Social & Political Union (WSPU)
Women who had been imprisoned during the suffragette
struggle
• The QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss was a light 47-mm naval gun
introduced in 1886 to defend against fast vessels such as
torpedo boats and later submarines.
• Sometime in 1961, in response to complaints that an existing six-
pounder was too loud, the Royal Navy salvaged one such
Hotchkiss 3-pounder that saw action in WWI’s Battle of Jutland
and presented it to a party.
• The Hotchkiss continues to serve the party well without any
further cause for complaint.
Who/What is the party that received the 3-pounder?
What specific use is the Hotchkiss being put to?
7
Answer
Jardines
The Noonday gun tradition in Hong Kong
• Arthur Irwin, a Canadian manager and part-time
sportsperson, is credited with what was once considered a
sporting innovation.
• While playing with Providence in 1883, Irwin is said to have
injured the third and fourth fingers in his left hand and came
up with this to ensure he missed no more games.
• By 1884, other players had adopted it and the object came
to be called the “Irwin _____”.
What ubiquitous sporting artefact?
8
Answer
Baseball Gloves (for pitchers/fielders)
• The current appearance of this dining table artefact is
attributed to Cardinal Richelieu.
• In 1637, the Cardinal is said to have been horrified when he
saw a guest pick his teeth, as a result of which he ordered a
change to be made.
• In 1669, Louis XIV, possibly to avoid succession
conspiracies from being executed at dinner, made it
mandatory for French cutlers to forge this object the way
Richelieu had ordered and it has stayed that way ever since.
What object?
What exact change?
9
Answer
Table Knives being rounded, instead of sharp
• In 2014, the Cleveland Rock & Roll Hall of Fame & Museum
announced that the artefact, containing the ashes of X, will be
moved to make way for Y’s leotards from her tours.
• The announcement generated equal parts outrage and
amusement with some people saying “this was the guy who
started it all” while others went philosophical with “Is Y even rock
and roll?”.
• Today, a new exhibit for X, in a less frequented part of the
museum, features his microphones; the ashes have since been
returned to a Cleveland cemetery.
Name X and Y.
10
Answer
DJ Alan Freed
who coined the term “rock n roll”
Beyonce
You are likely to see a collection of such artefacts if you
were to visit specific museums in Maine (USA) or
Scotland/England.
What are these artefacts you see here? (generic term
is fine)
What kind of a museum would you be visiting?
11
Answer
Lenses (Fresnel types mostly)
Lighthouses
• Contrary to appearance, these Victorian era items are not the
royal family’s table tennis accessories.
• The usage of these objects involved washing them first with
salted water to prevent them from becoming sticky, then using
them to squeeze excess moisture out of a daily use commodity,
before working this commodity into a regular shape.
• Some of these objects also came with patterns that could be
stamped on the commodity to identify the maker.
What were these objects called or briefly explain their
purpose?
12
Answer
Butter Pats
(used to give butter its brick shape)
(Not strictly artefacts, but please adjust!)
• In 1927, someone had the bright idea of doing a flying American
tour for promotions with the cargo; consequently a Ryan
Brougham plane, similar to the one that Lindbergh flew was
modified for this purpose.
• Five hours into the flight from San Diego to New York, the plane
crashed into the Arizona desert.
• The pilot went looking for help and 4 days later, the cargo was
still found to be in good shape, having survived some lonely
moments of anxiety.
Who/what was the cargo?
13
Answer
MGM Lion
• Coinciding with the 1930s national craze for streamlining goods of all
kinds, Raymond Loewy patented two designs – one derived from a
teardrop and the other derived from a sphere.
• The teardrop was the one chosen for fabrication and when the 5½
inch high prototype made its debut at the 1934 New York Industrial
Arts Exposition, it incited furious debate between streamlined style
and functionalism – the former was criticized as giving more
importance to form over function.
• Loewy himself defended his design saying “My critics did not
understand that by streamlining, I tried to minimize maintenance,
cleaning and hence simplify function.”
What object of daily use was the teardrop bombshell?
14
Answer
Pencil Sharpener
• Philippe Starck was staring at his plate of calamari at Amalfi,
pondering his latest commission from the Italian design house Alessi.
• As he noticed that he had no _____ to add zing to his calamari, he got
an idea that he began scribbling on a paper napkin.
• Twenty years on, the greasy, _____-stained napkin is at the Alessi
Museum and depicts the very first doodles of what would become a
best-selling design.
What object, that Michael Czerwinski, of London's Design
Museum described as “a perfectly adequate kitchen drawer filler
with aspirational desirability” and is eerily reminiscent of a Martin
tripod?
15
Answer
Juicy Salif Lemon Squeezer
• This oak writing table was installed right next to a window in the
Cristal-Room, built on top of Hauteville House at St. Peter Port,
from where the individual could look across the Channel Islands
to his beloved homeland that he was exiled from.
• The table was installed so as to allow him to write while
standing, a method he preferred over the conventional seated
method.
• A unique piece of literary heritage, the table is said to have
played a part in the completion of one of his most famous works,
as well as numerous poems, essays and letters during the years
1856-1870 when he stayed here.
Who?
16
Answer
Victor Hugo
• These are accessories used in the context of a repair technique
– A ______ egg made of stone, porcelain, wood, or other hard
material is inserted into the item to be repaired to provide a firm
foundation. Once the repairs are finished, the egg is removed.
– A ______ mushroom is a tool usually made of wood, on which the
item to be repaired is stretched and gathered tightly around the
stalk to hold it in place during the process.
– A ______ gourd is a hollow dried gourd with a pronounced neck,
on which the item under repair is stretched and held in place.
What repair technique are all these accessories used in?
What specific item do these accessories help in repairing?
17
Answer
Darning
Socks/Stockings
• Robert Heinlein said he got an idea for these devices after reading a
1918 article in Popular Mechanics, where an individual was affected
with myasthenia gravis, an auto-immune disorder that causes muscle
weakness and fatigue.
• Heinlein went on to publish the short story _______ (1942) in which
the protagonist ______ Farthingwaite-Jones patents a device to help
him overcome a similar disability.
• Today, such devices used in chemical, nuclear and biological
research are nicknamed _________s in tribute to Heinlein’s story title.
What is the generic name for such devices?
What nickname, that might remind you of searching in crowds, are
these devices known by?
18
Answer
Remote Manipulators
Waldo
• In 1786, the gentleman (pic) won an essay competition and
decided that he would devote his time towards a cause.
• To research on this front, he visited a trading ship, The Lively, and
procured samples of beeswax, carved ivory, palm oil and
peppers, which he began adding to his collection.
• The result was a travelling chest, a veritable museum of images
during his speeches, to convince people that a mutually
beneficial system driven by trade must be adopted.
Who was the gentleman?
What campaign did the travelling chest serve?
19
Answer
Thomas Clarkson
The Abolitionist/Anti-Slavery
Campaign
#TCQ – Typical Commie Question
• Created by painter and porcelain artist, Mikhail Adamovich,
this decorative plate was selected as one of 100 objects that
the British Museum would use to teach world history.
• Commissioned in 1921, it shows a revolutionary worker
stamping on something, represented in Futurist style, to
release industrial power that benefits the general
proletariat as opposed to a selected set of people.
What is the worker stamping on?
20
Answer
Kapital
• Titled “In the dull village”, it is one of a series of etchings and aquatint
prints made in 1966 by an artist for a selection of poems.
• The young artist discovered the writer’s body of work in the 1950s
and went on to visit Cairo, Luxor and Alexandria in the hope that he
could gain inspiration from the same liberal environs that influenced
the writer.
• This particular etching, while symbolic of the writer’s work, is based
on drawings of the artist’s partially clothed friends in his Notting Hill
home.
Name the artist.
Name the writer.
21
Answer
David Hockney
Constantin Cavafy
• This lantern was originally donated to
the University of Oxford in 1641 by the
son of the Justice of Peace, who may have
grabbed it from the individual in
question, a few decades ago.
• Made of sheet iron with a holder for a
candle inside, it has a hinged door which
acts a window for light to glow and an
adjustable vent to conceal the light and
hence hide the user’s presence.
• The user was unable to put the candle
flame inside to use, despite best
intentions.
In whose hand was the lantern found ?
22
Answer
Guy Fawkes
• In 1908, Dr. Julius Neubronner patented a miniature
photography device activated by a timing mechanism,
demonstrating it at the 1911 expositions in Dresden and Paris.
• Demos involved photos such as the ones shown, that were
developed on the spot and turned into postcards.
• The invention gained brief interest from the Prussian ministry,
but with better methods at their disposal, the technology did
not find much use.
What was special about this camera?
23
Answer
Attached to carrier pigeons
• Halteres, which weighed between 1 kg – 4.5 kg were a specific
category of dumb-bells in Ancient Greece, that were used
both as lifting weights and in the older version of a modern
Olympic sport.
• The older version involved the athlete holding one haltere in
each hand, swinging them forward to increase momentum and
using them appropriately to change one’s center of gravity.
What modern Olympic sport once involved the use of
halteres?
24
Answer
Long Jump
(also accept Triple Jump)
• The object you see here is an early 1900s fabric cylinder
designed to be drawn up and over the nose and mouth, with
the open end having leather straps for tightening.
• While there was no filtering mechanism, the fabric would
have been dipped in neutralizing agents such as phenol or
sodium hyposulphite.
• Statistics indicate that the efficacy of this item was correlated
to better communication, ability to supply faster to the
frontlines and general troop morale because of emotional
connects.
What was the purpose of this object?
25
Answer
Gas Masks for horses in WWI
• Called the Chertsey tiles, these artefacts were discovered
accidentally in 1852 at a Benedictine Abbey in Surrey and
depict two historical individuals.
• Date to around 1100 AD, the tile motif takes the liberty of
showing one person vanquishing the other, perhaps to
improve morale and divert public attention from what was in
fact a loss.
• The tiles also fuelled a historically inaccurate story, later
copied in manuscripts, wall paintings and sculpture.
Name both parties in the motif. (no part points)
What is historically inaccurate about this tile or other such
similar art from that time?
26
Answer
Richard I & Saladin
The two never met face-to-face on a
battlefield, although their representative
armies clashed
• The next 7 Questions (multiple parts in each
question but one of the answer parts links to
the theme) have a common theme running
through them.
• No points for the theme, but once you figure
out the theme, atleast one of the parts in each
question is workoutable, if not both.
• Like many 18th century gentleman, he had his own cabinet of
curiosities that included a staghorn coral, an Indian feather from
the Cherokees, a telescope, a globe, swords, guns and others.
• Possibly the most curious artefact in this collection is something
that came from the order Pristidae, a member of the ray family.
• The artefact consists of a protusion of cartilage and bone with
‘teeth’, that are actually scales, and creates an appearance of a
common woodworking instrument.
Whose collection is this artefact part of?
What is the creature, whose anatomical part this is?
What common term, from the days of public speaking in Ancient
Rome, is applied to this part?
27
Answer
George Washington
Sawfish / Carpenter Sharks
Rostrum
• This Fannon MP-5 bullhorn is one of the first artefacts that was
put on display at the ______ Center opened in Dallas.
• Three days after the incident, when the individual visited the
area, he wanted to make an impromptu address, but since the
bullhorn’s range was just 300 yards, someone in the crowd
yelled they could not hear him.
• Acknowledging them, he said “I can hear you! The rest of the
world hears you! And the people who did this will hear all of us
soon.”
Who?
In the context of what incident were these words spoken?
28
Answer
George W. Bush Jr.
9/11
• In 1961, three days before stepping aside, he made a speech
that touched upon the nation’s prosperity, but warned about its
growing expenditure on arming itself.
• That address has endured over time, earning him an Emmy
award in 1956; the award and the teleprompter script are both
preserved in a museum in his honour.
• The speech also introduced a phrase about an influential
nexus that is now the norm in most nations “we must guard
against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether
sought or unsought, by the ______ _______ _____”
Who? What phrase?
29
Answer
Dwight Eisenhower
Military-Industrial Complex
• Two months after the tragedy, he dictated a letter to his
friend John B. Murray, in which he spoke of being
“prostrated to the very earth by this dreadful event”.
• Two copies of this letter – one printed, the other in the
handwriting of John B Murray are displayed at the
headquarter of the Players, the private social club for
actors, that was founded by him.
Who wrote this letter? (full name please)
What was he referring to?
30
Answer
Edwin Booth
Lincoln assassination
• A regulation officer’s boatcloak, garments of this type were
designed to protect the wearer from the cold and the clothing
from the effects of spray.
• The garment opens at the front and is fitted with two frogs
(knotted lengths of braided cord), which engage to secure the
cloak and close it.
• Made at a local navy yard, this particular garment kept the
wearer warm during a particularly icy trip to discuss the future
of a continent emerging from a near apocalypse.
Name the wearer.
What trip are we talking about?
31
Answer
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Yalta Conference
• The operation, as part of which this artefact found frequent use,
may remind one of indigestion, but the naming implied a swift,
repetitive action to save as many compromised lives as
possible.
• The object is said to have been used by close to 7000 people,
all of whom might remember it as the final step to redemption.
• Much of the success of the operation is attributed to the
diligent sense of urgency and planning shown by the man in
charge, in whose commemorative museum this item now
resides.
Name the man.
Where exactly was this object originally present?
32
Answer
Gerald D. Ford
American Embassy in Saigon
• Simple one: artefact connected with whose last
moments? What exactly is this artefact?
33
Answer
JFK
Leather from the limo seat
THEME ENDS..
• One of the reasons this set of pajamas was
designed was to encourage children to
actively participate in bedtime stories.
What was the other reason, a solution to a
common parental complaint?
34
Answer
To prevent sucking of thumbs
• Soon after his death in 1871, in accordance with his will, his
brain was donated towards the advancement of human
knowledge and the good of the human race.
• A paper in a 1909 edition of the Philosophical Transactions of
the Royal Society described the dissection of his brain and
notes that there was very little senile wasting of gyri, perhaps
hinting at a very active mind even at 80 years of age.
• One half of the brain resides at the Hunterian Museum, while
the other is at the Science Museum in London.
Which man, who made a huge difference to science?
35
Answer
Charles Babbage
• Just 10 miles south of San Francisco airport, this
museum is home to a quirky collection and claims to
have atleast one sample of every ______ ______ ever
sold.
• Its pièce de résistance is the World’s Largest ______
_______, a behemoth snowman standing at 7 ft, 20 in
tall – much taller than an average one, seen in stores.
What childhood indulgence is this museum devoted
to?
36
Answer
Pez Dispensers
• The use of this artefact involves a fixed end, while the other
end vibrates on a plain surface; the harder the plain surface,
harder the vibrating object had to be.
• The object was manufactured in two types – spherical and
elliptical, the former allows for more contact and hence better
output quality while the latter has less contact area, leading to
better sensitivity.
• As plain surface materials evolved, the object was
manufactured with hard materials like sapphire or diamond.
What term, deriving from Latin for a stake, is used for these
objects and is familiar to us in a smart technology context?
In what larger device are these objects used as components?
37
Answer
Stylus
Gramophone
• A bur is a generic term for a cutting surface, made of a
multifluted tungsten carbide diamond coated tip or a
stainless steel multifluted rosehead.
• ________ burs are classified by shapes such as round
(sizes ¼ to 10) inverted cone sizes (sizes 33 ½ to 90L),
pear shaped, fissured and also by type of shank such as
long shanks used in slow speed or a friction grip bur used
in high speed.
What field of human endeavor, a trying one for all
parties involved, are these burs useful in?
38
Answer
Dentistry
• The term originally referred to a simple device used to pry the
caps of old school crown cork sealed bottles.
• Before pull tab beer cans came into vogue in the 1960s, the
same term was used for bottle/can-openers that punctured the
lids of flat top cans.
• Etymological theories are hazy but the most popular one says
that these openers looked like large, ornate items used by
monks for places of worship or areas where they sealed beer.
What term, that may just be a jocular reference to the fact
that opening a beer is a religious experience?
39
Answer
Churchkey
• A type of electric guitar pickup, it uses two magnetic coils in
which one coil with its north poles oriented up (towards the
strings) is paired with another coil whose south poles are
oriented up.
• This achieves phase cancellation and cancels out the ______
(X) sound that could be caused by power-amps, processors,
mixers and other equipment operating on AC.
• The name of the pickup comes from the fact that it “______s (Y)
the _____ (X)”, literally killing the undesired sound.
What is this pickup called? (XYer)
40
Answer
Humbucker
from bucking the hum
• Originally an independent museum, this collection of objects
was moved to the science museum at Minnesota and is now an
exhibit there.
• Examples of objects displayed here include:
– A Prostate Gland Warmer (a 4.25 inch probe with a blue
light bulb at the end)
– A machine that determines the personality by measuring
the bumps on one’s head
– A rejuvenator that uses magnetism, radio waves, infra-red
and ultra-violet rays and so on…
What is this museum devoted to?
41
Answer
Questionable Medical Devices
(Accept Quackery or variants thereof)
• If you were a Duke University Student in the 1940s or 1950s, you
would not have been able to check an online catalog at the David
M. Rubenstein library and retrieve the book of your choice.
• What you did was you consulted the card catalog and wrote the call
number on a paper slip, handed that slip to a staff at the Circulation
Desk and after a few restless moments, your book would arrive at
the desk through an electric book-lift or dumbwaiter.
• The process of locating the book was somewhat simplified by using
what you see here.
How were these objects used? (2 key words in your answer will
help fetch full points)
42
Answer
Pneumatic tube systemCanisters with the paper slip travelled through a tube to another library
level where a clerk located the book and sent it back to the main desk.
• While everyone else would call it a _____ smoker, it is just
called a smoker in the profession in which it is used as a
distraction mechanism.
• Credited to Moses Quinby, the first known person of this
profession in the USA, the invention operates on the principle
that smoke masks alarm pheromones such as isopentyl acetate
and consequently numbing of defensive responses.
• In addition, smoke tends to create a feeding frenzy, leading to
distended abdomens, that make it tougher to react
defensively.
What profession of people use the smoker?
43
Answer
Bee KeepersSmoke diverts the attention of bees and helps keepers extract honey
without being stung
• In 1849, Auguste Clesinger, a sculptor, was rushed to the man’s
deathbed to ensure he got this item along with a face mask,
the latter a ghastly artefact in its own right.
• Describing this particular item in action, Stephen Heller, a
biographer once said “they had an ability to suddenly expand
and cover a third of the total space, akin to the opening of the
mouth of a serpent about to swallow a rabbit whole.”
What is this artefact, that has copies in the Musee de la Vie
Romantique (Paris), the Hunterian Museum & Art Gallery
(UK) and the _____ museum in Rapperswill, Switzerland?
44
Answer
Chopin’s Hands
• Atleast 7 assassination attempts were made on King Louis-Phillipe
of the French July Monarchy, but none so fantastic as the one
orchestrated by a Corsican, Giuseppe Fieschi, who built this
diabolical device to kill the King.
• Rather than fire a few shots at the king, Fieschi’s weapon of wood
and iron had 25 barrels that shot all at once in different directions.
• On July 28, 1835, it was setup on the 3rd storey of the Boulevard du
Temple Paris and when it fired, 18 people were killed and 42
injured but none from the royal family; in fact Pieschi himself was
injured due to a backfire.
What was this gun called, in reference to the fact that its design
and intended use was patently hellish? (Unrelated Clue: the term
was later used as the title of a 1934 Greek mythological play by Jean
Cocteau)
45
Answer
Infernal Machine
• In 1911, when the coinage with King George V’s image
was introduced in British India, a certain problem was
noticed on the side on which the King’s image was
displayed.
• This caused all manner of hurt sentiments leading to
the British government decided to withdraw all 1911
coins minted from circulation.
What was the issue/what were these coins called due
to the controversy?
46
Answer
Pig Coins
The elephant on King George V’s shoulder sleeve looked like a
pig, that caused hurt sentiments
Thank You!
