Johannes Koelz

The man who refused to paint Hitler. Link…

Clip/Stamp/Fold

"An explosion of architectural little magazines in the 1960s and 1970s instigated a radical transformation in architectural culture with the architecture of the magazines acting as the site of innovation and debate." Link…

Money

Tom Chao has an interesting paper money collection.
"This note was printed on recycled mulberry paper from discarded government documents and examination papers. The six Chinese characters on the top read "Ta Ming T'ung Hsing Pao Ch'ao" (Great Ming Payable Precious Note). The note was hand stamped with two square red chops. The outer frame is decorated with ornate dragon patterns. Inside, the upper half were printed with the face value "1 Kuan" and 10 strings of ten cash each. These are framed by two panels, one on each side, with eight Chinese characters "Ta Ming Pao Ch'ao, T'ien Hsia T'ung Hsing" (Great Ming Precious Note, Payable Everywhere). Written in Chinese inside the lower half: Ministry of Interior and Finance. Printed with the approval of the Emperor. Great Ming Treasure Note payable in copper cash. User of Counterfeits will be beheaded. Informer will be rewarded with 250 taels of silver in addition to the confiscated property of the convicted. Reign of Hongwu (1368-1399).
This 1 Kuan banknote of the Ming Dynasty is from the estate of Hubbard Ballou, late of Chester, Vermont. Mr. Ballou was a missionary born in Peking, China and living there until the end of WWII.
Mr. Ballou received this banknote from his friend, L. Carrington Goodrich, who was associated with Yenching University, Peking in the 1930's. Mr. Goodrich told Mr. Ballou that he received the banknote under the following circumstances:
Sometimes in 1936 one of the walls surounding Peking was being torn down. When the laborers got to the huge gate, they found, to their surprise, a large bale of the 1 Kuan banknotes of the Ming Dynasty buried in the wall itself. After removing the soiled and damaged notes, the workers sold the banknotes to those standing around and Mr. Goodrich came upon this note at that time. He told Mr. Ballou that he purchased two of them for a few "coppers", which amounted to just a few pennies.
This note, measuring 222mm x 340mm, is listed in the Standard Catalog of World Paper Money as catalog number: China AA10. It is unrivaled in the world of paper money as the world's first banknote. It is over 600 years old!
This note later fell into the possession of Ed Bohannon, collector and numismatic consultant. Bought from the Ed Bohannon Collection of Chinese Paper Money, April 28, 2001." Link…

Flame Letters

Origin of Alphabets stoush. Stanley and Cynthia Tenen of the Meru Foundation v Dan Winter Link…

National Fairground Archive

The University of Sheffield houses this growing collection of fairground photographs, posters and video. Link…

Russian library

This site has a large amount of complete books in DjVu, pdf and doc format. They have left the site as an open directory, which makes it handy for going directly to an author or viewing the latest updates. The three example are from Georgiy Naumenko, Zinaida Aleksandrova and Murzilka. Link…

The disillusionment of Dmitry

ATTENTION !
After long unsuccessful attempts was have sufficient grounds from creation and sale artworks Dmitry finished all experiences in art and now look for a job which shall give money for his family and return debts.
Artist told us that God betray his and kill Dmitry's faith from beggar and starvation by his family and by his direct. Therefore Dmitry decide bury his talent that given by God and be atheist and full art-renegade.
If you want purchase old Dmitry's artwork please connect to Dmitry's civil wife Mrs. Tatiana L. Vasilieva therefore Dmitry do not want have any attitudes with Internet in future. Link…

Propaganda

Posters from the Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905. Link…

Concept cars

From concept to production. Pictured - 1956 Oldsmobile Golden Rocket. Link…

Ulk

The satire supplement 'Joke' was published from 1872 to 1933. Available in two newspapers, it had a large readership. Wonderful illustrations. Link…

Tribology

Songs, images and videos from 6 different tribal populations that live in the southern district of Koraput, Orissa, India. It's only a small site but check out this cute video - great little cassette player they've got there. Link…

Super symbol

The evolution of Superman's S. Link…

Maya sculpture

Rubbings from Tikal.

The Nuremberg Chronicle

A medieval encyclopedia (large scans of the illustrations). Link…

System 11

A very comprehensive rundown (posters, rules, easter eggs, etc) on System 11 pinball machines. Link…

Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum

An illustrated catalogue of more that 100,000 ancient vases. Link…

Duluth

A set of postcards depicting Duluth, Minnesota. There are some strange choices of subject that don't exactly scream 'Come to Beautiful Duluth'. Link…

Charlotte Corday

She pulled the knife from her scarf and plunged it into his chest. He called out, À moi, ma chère amie! ("Help me, my dear friend!") and died. Link…