Q 01/05

Which American Revolution hero was a Boston silversmith who took up dentistry to make ends meet?

A) Samuel Adams

B) Paul Revere

C) John Hancock

D) James Otis

Answer · why

B) Paul Revere

Paul Revere went back to his silver shop after the war and in 1800 became the first American to roll copper into sheets for sheathing naval ships.

Q 02/05

Which radioactive element makes antique Vaseline glass glow bright green under ultraviolet light?

A) Radium

B) Thorium

C) Uranium

D) Polonium

Answer · why

C) Uranium

Uranium, first identified by a German chemist in 1789, was colouring decorative glass by the 1830s. The Vaseline nickname came later, from its likenes...

Q 03/05

Which London cabinetmaker's pattern book, the Director, turned his surname into a furniture style?

A) George Hepplewhite

B) Thomas Sheraton

C) Duncan Phyfe

D) Thomas Chippendale

Answer · why

D) Thomas Chippendale

Thomas Chippendale issued the catalogue in 1754, and it spread so widely that similar furniture by other makers came to be called by his name.

Q 04/05

Which country's name became an English verb for coating furniture in glossy black imitation lacquer?

A) Japan

B) China

C) India

D) Persia

Answer · why

A) Japan

Japan gave English the word japanning in the 17th century, when European craftsmen copied the then-famous Japanese lacquer with resin varnishes instea...

Q 05/05

Which Saint Petersburg jeweller made Easter eggs for Tsars Alexander III and Nicholas II to give as gifts?

A) Cartier

B) Boucheron

C) Fabergé

D) Bulgari

Answer · why

C) Fabergé

Fabergé delivered 50 Imperial eggs from 1885 to 1916, each one an Easter gift from a tsar to his wife or his mother.