Curiosa

In addition to creating works of his own, artist Barton Lidice Benes collected random, weird stuff, which is detailed in his 2002 book Curiosa: Celebrity Relics, Historical Fossils, and Other Metamorphic Rubbish. Seems like it could be of interest to WUvies! Some of the items include:

• Larry Hagman’s gallstone
• a straw used by Monica Lewinsky
• a statue of the Virgin Mary made out of dollar bills
• a penny found in Sigmund Freud’s couch
• a piece of coal from the Titanic
• a cross made out of nails from the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas
• a fork used by actor Steven Van Zandt of The Sopranos
• Gore Vidal’s swizzle stick and coaster
• Art Buchwald’s toothpick

After Benes died in 2012, the North Dakota Museum of Art received much of his collection.

More info: wikipedia, poz.com