There was a similar one where they found paper aeroplanes in an old schoolhouse, that probably predated actual aeroplanes. Unfortunately the only report is in the Daily Mail, not exactly a reliable source:
Aka paper darts though, maybe slightly datedly, and it is striking how the design there resembles a throwing dart, relatively unlike a modern larger and more forward winged paper plane design.
I wonder what the cost of these would have been at the time, I’m guessing paper was at least an order of magnitude more expensive and the purchasing power was lower.
Hmm. I wonder. While I'm sure your math is correct, there are differences outside of the paper itself. For example, we're not going to the general store and buying pieces of paper one at a time from the merchant.
"I'll have 17 pieces good sir"
We can order bulk from Amazon in the form of a package of 500 sheets for $10, but that paper is also higher and lower quality than the paper from 200 years ago. (Thinner, for one thing..).
Of course, buying 500 sheets is part of the whole change in our economy. Mass production enables part of that. It seems, to me, so very hard to equate wage to purchase this way, not just for paper but anything.
Even food, the massive change that pesticides, fertilizer, and crop rotation(huge!), safe canning, refrigeration, all these things mean that food costs have plummeted.
Even different strains of crops, storage methods, the last century has seen yields increase immensely from the same land.
There is an active manual paper mill in Czechia, one of the very last around Europe. Dates back to 1596 AD. You can book a tour around the facility and see people working in all stages of manual paper production.
This is one of those histories that feel fake at the first sight.
If the title claims that the paper was cut around 1674, I don't see the proofs anywhere. I see again a lack of critical thinking to spot available alternatives that are more logical, or a try to make the history more appealing.
This paper seems made by a machine, does not have any fungus on it and is white (after 350 years should be yellow). Chemical processes to keep the paper white and free of fungus attack weren't invented until 1850.
The floorboards may have 350 years, but the materials in those photos seem very 20th.
These particular examples are claimed to have been left some time between when the school was created in the second half of the 18th century, and 1891 when it was taken over by 'St John’s Church Institute, which provided skills-training and pastimes for young men from the parish church.'
The longer 350 years refers to previous 'almost identical' examples found elsewhere. (Yes 'nearly 350 years ago' is a misleading title.)
The National Trust took over the property before the war, discovering and preserving these artefacts during renovation in the 80s.
It seems perfectly plausible to me, they just needed to stay dry.
Paper turns yellow in part due to exposure to sunlight. You can see well preserved 17th century books today that are a similar whiteness and grain, not entirely covered in fugus either. A 20th century work would not have hen spelt as hean. There also appears to be foxing on both the fox and nude figure...
> Dr Isabella Rosner, an expert in early modern material culture, identified the paper cuttings at Sutton House which are almost identical to only two other known surviving examples, one of which is a decorative box dating to the 1680s held in a collection at Witney Antiques in Oxfordshire.
I was not able to find photos of the box in Google, but it look like they already have similar drawings of the same time.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2111963/Schoolboys-...
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