This gold heart-shaped locket contains a lock of Marie Antoinette’s hair, set under glass or rock crystal; on the other side of the curl [alternate view here] is an inscribed card that reads ”A lock of hair of MARIE ANTOINETTE, Queen of FRANCE given by her to Lady Abercorn by whom it was given to her sister Lady Julia Lockwood, whose daughter Lady Napier gave it to W.S. 1853.” 

A curator at the British Museum, where the locket is held, provides some historical context:

Text from the catalogue of the Hull Grundy Gift (Gere et al 1984) no. 579:

If this blonde lock of hair is indeed that of Marie Antoinette it must have been presented before the abortive flight to Varennes in 1791, when the King and Queen tried to escape from France. Marie Antoinette’s hair went white overnight, and on her return to Paris she presented a ring to the Princesse de Lamballe containing a lock of her hair which was inscribed ‘Blanchis par la douleur (whitened by sorrow; see Campan 1833). The ring is now in the Musée Carnavalet, Paris. (C.Gere)

Discovered via all things amazing

1920s navigation system, called a TomTom, which consisted of a wristwatch and tiny scrolls that a driver would insert before departure, then wind as he went along. The invention never took off, probably, as the Daily Mail notes, because there were too few motorists at the time.

Via szymon, via hoveringcat

Tithi Kutchamuch’s Companion Parrot, to go in your home or around your neck.

Via Street Anatomy

Anger Release Machine by Katja Kublitz and Ronnie Yarisal, via Urban Prankster.

Etienne Meneau sent out word today of his latest Strange Carafe, the Grand Coeur.

Previously

Knit dissected frog by Crafty Hedgehog, via Street Anatomy.

CH’s previous dissection here; related.

My kind of tableware. By artdecadence, via Street Anatomy.

Good Chemistry salt and pepper shakers, via pan-dan.

Playhouse by Dietrich Wegner, via Interior design room.

Necklace at Etsy, via don’t touch my moleskine.