An Auction puzzle: How did he know?
Adapted from a puzzle heard on the Public Radio Program, Car Talk
Rummaging around in his grandmother's attic, John discovered a very old
hand-made wooden sled. Dusting it off he discovered the inscription: G.
Washington September 10, 1752. John asked a friendly antique dealer what
this sled was worth. The dealer said that it could be very valuable and
suggested that John take it to Christie's to see if they would auction it
for him. Christie's agreed to put the sled up at auction.
At the auction, the auctioneer announced that this hand-made sled had the
inscription: G. Washington, September 10, 1752 ... Someone in the
audience immediatly cried out-"it's a fake!"
How did he know it was a fake? (You can find the answer
here).
This old print from about 1645 by the
polymath Jesuit scholar Athansius Kircher (Source: Coe, B., 'A
History of Movie Photography' from Russel Naughton's
site on the answer page) illustrates an early idea for a Magic
Lantern slide projector.
Such lanterns were powered by a small oil lamp shown on the
left (smoking) and projected images from handpainted glass
slides (mid-picture) onto a screen (shown on the right).
There is something wrong with this picture, what is it?
(You can find the answer here).
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