It was #AskACurator Day on Twitter this week, where 26,000 people asked a thousand curators from 581 museums around the world what their favoritest, weirdest thing in their collection was.
And for the folks at The Frick Pittsburgh, it was this taxidermied rocking rabbit, purchased, we're told, for the Frick children c. 1890.
As Henry Frick's oldest son Childs was already 7 by then, we can assume the rabbit was for daughters Martha (b. 1885) and/or FrickPitt founder Helen (b. 1888). Sadly, Martha died of a long illness just before her 6th birthday, and their father never got over the loss. Childs, meanwhile, apparently developed an interest in taxidermy, and would go on to be a gentleman researcher and longtime trustee of the American Museum of Natural History.
What's the weirdest taxidermied, life-altering toy you've ever acquired for your kid? Tell us on Facebook or Pinterest! Or, below, whatever.
The Frick Pittsburgh [thefrickpittsburgh.org via twitter]
Previously, related: Kouenji Rocking Skull
