This table clock, designed by Swedish goldsmith, Baron Erik Fleming, truly captures the spirit and wonder of travel in its depiction of a globe. Spinning on its axis hour by hour, this clock lets the viewer explore the many vast places in the world, from the massive continents of the Americas, to the tiny islands...

Ruth Gerth’s 1931 “Glow Lamp” for Chase Brass and Copper Company is a gleaming example of American modernism with a bit of a dirty secret. The conical shade is topped by a globular finial and clips on to an incandescent bulb, nestled into its fitting atop a spherical base with a horizontal band running around...

In the aftermath of the French Revolution, many public squares required new monuments that celebrated Revolutionary ideals instead of the might of the fallen monarchy. Several fascinating proposals followed including a suggestion by Jacques-Louis David who suggested  in 1793 that a large statue of Hercules be erected on  Place de Pont-Neuf  with each limb of...