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The Collation

“What manner o’ thing is your crocodile?”: June 2016

It’s the last day of the month, and our intrepid readers know what that means: mystery time!

So for this month, we ask: why on earth would someone make a jumble of pictures of everyday items like this? And why all the numbers?

crocodile mystery_june

As always, comment here with your thoughts and guesses, and we’ll be back next week with an explanation.

Comments

They look like heraldic charges to me! Is this a pictorial index in an ordinary?

Katie Will — May 31, 2016

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Looks like a list of heraldic devices.

Jeffhowardmeade — May 31, 2016

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It looks to me like a props table and set dressing inventory. I wouldn’t do it that way, myself, but I could see the point of it.

Thanks,
-V.

Vardibidian — May 31, 2016

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Is it part of an inventory? The numbers next to each item remind me of numbers I’ve seen before descriptions and values, and for portable objects like the ones depicted, it might be handy to know which is which.

Erin McCarthy — June 1, 2016

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It looks like a catalog of household items but not for a particular room.

Linda Stumbaugh — June 1, 2016

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It reminds me of Randle Holme’s Academy of Armory.

arnold — June 4, 2016

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So many good theories! Stay tuned for the explanation–Katie Will is spot on with her response…

Heather Wolfe — June 7, 2016

Reply

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