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much tea. Of course, these kinds of stereotypes are left over from a time when the librarian might be a woman who was thought to be a bit dowdy. Belde Coosta Green certainly did not fit that mold. In fact, Beldacosta Green didn't fit really into any mold in the early twentieth century. She was born Belle Maran Greener in eighteen seventy nine in Washington, d c. To parents who

were prominent and well liked in their community. Her mother, Genevieve Ida Fleet, was a music teacher from a prominent local black family, and her father, Richard Theodore Greener, was the first black graduate of Harvard in the class of eighteen seventy Her father was an activist in every sense of the word, and wielded his education and intellect with pride, passing on a keen hunger for knowledge to his children, especially to Belle. Admittedly, she had a complicated relationship with

her father. He left the family when she was seventeen, and it's not clear if Belle ever saw him again. The family was of mixed ancestry, and Belle herself was very light skinned. To get ahead in a world that enforced segregation in every way possible, Belle changed her name to Green and made her middle name DaCosta, creating a story of Portuguese heritage to explain her darker complexion. It was Belle Belle's position at the Princeton Library, though, that

set her apart. She began working there in nineteen oh two and came to the attention of one Junius Spencer Morgan the Second, the nephew of the infamous JP Morgan. Junius was a book lover that eventually introduced Bell to his uncle, who was looking for a personal librarian to manage and expand his collection. And even though Morgan was just trying to impress old money in New York City, that didn't mean that he didn't want the best and most valuable, and he needed someone with a tenacity to

get it. He hired Bell in nineteen oh five and charged her with taming the collection and then getting more. There always had to be more. Although libraries are commonly thought of as a woman's domain, remember our dowdy librarian stereotype, Most high level positions are occupied by men. Bell had her work cut out for her, and she handled it with her usual flare, often saying, and I quote, just because I'm a librarian doesn't mean I have to dress

like one. Bell traveled extensively to Europe, out charming and outbidding the other collectors that came to jockey for positions in auctions and sales. She learned from the best in the field, and her word was as good as gold with European galleries, shops and dealers. She was fashionable, formidable, a splash of color and a somewhat drab male dominated world. And Bell was also forthright, maybe even blunt, with her employees and wasn't afraid to push Morgan when she was right,

as she so often was. She acquired a staggering collection of rare books, manuscripts, and fine art for the Morgan Library, but her position became precarious when Morgan died in nineteen thirteen. It could have all come crashing down in that moment, but Morgan's son, JP. Morgan Junior, established the Pierpont Morgan Library as a public institution in nineteen twenty four and wasn't about to let a gem like Bell get away anyway.

His father's will stipulated that Bell was to be kept on at the library with a salary of fifty thousand dollars. Didn't just stay on as a librarian, though, she became the director. Under Bell's care, the Morgan Library blossomed into a significant public institution, and Bell herself was a respected figure who mentored colleagues and was the person to see

about medieval art, particularly illuminated manuscripts. Because of that, institutions far and wide sought her council, But in nineteen thirty she was needed a little closer to home. The Metropolitan Museum of Art wanted to purchase an extremely rare medieval panel painting by Spanish master Jorge Ingles. It was a gorgeous piece showing the betrothal of Saint Ursula. At first glance, it was perfect, a busy scene with the large crowd

centered around Saint Ursula and her would be husband. However, Belle looked closer and realized that something was off. People have certain expectations when it comes to the Middle Ages, and this painting played into all of them. What no one realized that day in nineteen thirty was that Bell had just uncovered one of the most successful and massive forgers in history. As it turns out, the figure Bell dubbed the Spanish Forger had been busy creating several medieval

works for decades. Bell sought them out with the same single minded focus she devoted to Morgan's collection. The paintings were too perfect, they were too decorative and had too much gold leaf, something that was spare in actual medieval art. After almost a decade, Bell compiled the list of fourteen items she confirmed to have been created by the Spanish Forger. She retired in nineteen forty eight and died two years later, but her story is only just beginning to be explored

and understood. The hunt for the Spanish Forger continues to this day. Currently, the list of works attributed to them stands at over three hundred But there's one last thing. A funny thing happened. After Bell's discovery, the Spanish Forger's art became just as valuable and sought after as the works they once sought to imitate. There are auctions for people to claim these pieces for their own, and thousands of dollars are exchanged, all for a pretty lie. We've

never found out who the Spanish forger was. Thanks to Bella DaCosta Green, we've certainly discovered a colorful mystery. Everyone has that one item in their house they're proud of. Maybe it's the eighty inch TV in the living room, or their extensive collection of humble figurines. It could be an award, or a vintage piece of furniture, or even a prop from a famous movie. Whatever it is, it's something that brings them joy and acts as a conversation

starter for when the guests come over. After all, who can ignore a TV almost as big as the wall? But Sadik Mohammad Khan Abbasi the Fourth didn't have a giant television set or a movie prop. What he had was a really nice bed. Abbasi was the Navab of Bahawalpur, a princely state of the British Indian Empire. Bahawalpur wasn't technically governed by the British. Instead, it was overseen by the Navab and controlled by the Crown through indirect rule.

Bahawalpur was located on the eastern edge of modern Pakistan. It was founded in sixteen oh nine a d. But didn't form a subsidiary alliance with Britain until eighteen thirty three. As for Abbasi, sources are conflicted. Some say that he was born in eighteen sixty one, while others claimed that he was born a year later. His father was Navab at the time, but he sadly passed away in eighteen

sixty six when Sadiq was only a boy. As the boy was still a minor at the time of his father's death, he was unable to assume the role and duties of Navab. Instead, the British took temporary control until Abbasi came of age in eighteen seventy nine, at which point he was granted the title of tenth Navab of Bahawalpur. In photographs, Abasi appeared to be fairly tall, with a full beard and long, dark hair that fell past his shoulders.

He had a taste for the finer things in life, often depicted wearing long ornate jackets stitched with detailed phil agree, and I will confess that I cannot help but picture Nandor the relentless from what we do in the shadows. But you picture what you want to picture. But to get a true sense of his wealth and power, one need to look no further than his bedroom. Because the bed on which he slept was no ordinary resting place.

He had it commissioned in eighteen eighty two to be built out of rosewood, a strong wood with a deep, rich red hue. Then he had the bed covered in a third of a ton of sterling silver from the Krystofel company in Paris. Christophel was a renowned silverware company that had supplied kings and emperors with beautiful tableware dating back to the eighteen forties. When it introduced a new way of bonding thin layers of metal to their forks, knives,

and spoons, they called it electroplating. The process was a huge boon to their business too, But the Navab didn't have his bed electroplated. Instead, he asked the company's designers to carve and engrave the sterling silver with delicate patterns and ornamentations to show everyone that this was a bed fit for a king. A rosewood bed covered in specially crafted sterling silver might have been enough for most wealthy nobles,

but not a bossy. He wanted more, and so on each of the four posts at the bed's corners he had placed four life size automatons cast from bronze. They were made by French artists on Ribouet and were modeled as four nude women of European descent, each wearing a dark wig and holding a feathered fan. Inside the posts on which they stood were springs that had been wired

to a music box. Stored beneath the bed and under the mattress was a pressure sensor that was triggered when a bossi would crawl in at the end of a long busy day, and when the censor was activated, the four robotic women would move their eyes and wave their fans over him as a piece from a popular opera played for thirty minutes. Unfortunate, the current whereabouts of the

bed are unknown. All that remains today are some photos taken by the Christoffel Company in eighteen eighty two, as well as a watercolor painting of it by Carl A. Scoggard. Looking back, though Nnavab's musical bed was more than just a display of extravagance and wealth, it was also a marvel of engineering and craftsmanship. To know it might still be out there waiting for somebody to lay down and switch on its half hour music show, well that would

keep anyone up at night. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can learn all about it over at the World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious. H