This is the Silver Swan, a life-sized automaton built in 1773 by mechanical genius John Joseph Merlin (with inventor James Cox).
Credit:thurstonphoto
In 1940, a woman from a wealthy Parisian family fled the city as the Nazis advanced into France, locking her apartment behind her. She never returned, yet the rent continued to be paid until her death in 2010. When executors finally opened the apartment, they discovered an extraordinary Belle Époque time capsule: untouched furniture, letters, cosmetics, and a long-lost portrait by Italian painter Giovanni Boldini. The painting, depicting actress and socialite Marthe de Florian, later sold for more than €2 million at auction.
In stark contrast stands the tragic story of New York’s Collyer brothers. Homer and Langley Collyer became infamous for extreme hoarding inside their Harlem townhouse. Over the years, Langley filled the home with more than 100 tons of junk, including newspapers, pianos, bicycles, and even parts of a Model T Ford. To protect themselves from intruders, he constructed narrow tunnels and crude booby traps throughout the house.
In 1947, Langley accidentally triggered one of his own traps and was crushed beneath a collapsing pile of debris. Homer, who was blind and dependent on his brother for care, was left helpless and eventually died of starvation and dehydration. Their case became so notorious that New York firefighters still use the term “Collyer’s Mansion” to describe homes with dangerously severe hoarding conditions.
Credit:DoktorKlawonn | CC BY 3.0
She taught the pig to hold a brush in her mouth and touch it to a canvas.
By the time Pigcasso passed last year at 700 kilograms, her abstract paintings had been collected by George Clooney and her brushwork licensed by Swatch for a limited-edition watch called Flying Pig, which retailed at around $110. In 2018 she became the first animal in history to host her own solo art exhibition, in Cape Town. They called it OINK. One of her canvases, Wild and Free, later sold to a German collector for $25,000.
Total raised for the sanctuary that took her in: over a million dollars.
Credit:Viola Brand
Credit: Ednilson Pereira