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The Collation

“What manner o’thing is your crocodile?”: November 2019

The November 2019 Crocodile Mystery is a two-parter…. What is this? And why is it part of the Folger Shakespeare Library’s collection?

Please use the Comments section for answers, guesses, ridiculous speculation, and so on. Check back next week for the full story.

Comments

Is it a chain used in bear-baiting? (I feel like the conversation always comes back to bear-baiting.)

Jillian — October 29, 2019

Reply

Well, back in the days before digital cameras, they used bronze to record heeby jeeby stuff like bacteria that were seen in their early microscopes. This is my lame sense of humor today, coming from Northern California where we have no electricity again, and have to go to a tent to charge our phones.

Cathy — October 29, 2019

Reply

That’s clearly a pray-you-vndo-this button that has been vndone a little too hastily.

Elisabeth Chaghafi — October 29, 2019

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This looks like a very old coin (perhaps Hebrew around 68AD?). This coin along with many other was found lying loose in a drawer. The guess about it’s age has not been verified, but if it is that old then it’s the oldest item in the Folger collection.

Robin Swope — October 29, 2019

Reply

Lear’s lost button? (as in “Off, off, you lendings! Come, unbutton here.”)

Owen — October 30, 2019

Reply

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