20 EXTREMELY RARE PHOTOGRAPHS

1. Samurai The nineteenth century saw the demise of the Samurai statesmen in Japan. The cost of maintaining highly trained armies to defend themselves in civil conflicts became cost prohibitive. Prior to becoming politically activated the Samurai were some of the most proficient fighting machines in the known world. They had a culture based on honor, which they revered.

2. Native American One wonders what this gentleman is thinking as he gazes down upon the newly constructed Transcontinental Railroad in Nevada in 1868.

3. Titanic Boarding Pass This photograph depicts the White Star Line’s third-class steerage ticket on RMS (Royal Mail Ship) Titanic on April 10th, 1912. This mighty luxury liner sank in the Atlantic Ocean 4 days later, after colliding with an iceberg. Titanic lies on the ocean floor two miles deep, three hundred and eighty miles southeast of Newfoundland.

4. Albert Einstein’s Matriculation Certificate This rare photograph shows Albert Einstein’s matriculation certificate from the Aargau Kantonsschule. The grades are on a scale from 1-6.

5. Hiram Bingham Politician, academic and explorer, Hiram Bingham, is the man responsible for bringing the South American Inca ruins of Machu Picchu back into the Western public eye. In fact, the somewhat traumatic switchback road that leads to this historical site is named The Hiram Bingham Highway. This picture of him was taken outside his tent on that very discovery expedition in 1912. This expedition also took the very first picture of this long forgotten iconic Inca site.

6. King Tut’s Seal This three thousand, two hundred and forty-five-year-old rope seal has been perfectly preserved by Egypt’s dry arid heat. Tombs of a similar age from the Mayan dynasty in the Central American jungles have little or no organic matter remaining.

7. First Computer ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was the first computer ever made. The 1946 machine was hailed as a “Giant Brain” with a speed of one thousand times that of electro-mechanical machines. ENIAC used common octal-base radio tubes and in early use would burn a few of these out every day causing the machine to be inoperable much of the time. After a memory upgrade in 1947 ENIAC was moved to Maryland where it was in continuous operation until 1955. Philadelphia City proclaimed February fifteenth 2011 as, “ENIAC Day” to celebrate this famous machine’s sixty-fifth anniversary.

8. The Terrifying News This rare photograph was taken at the exact moment the President was informed of the cowardly and horrific terrorist attacks on New York’s Twin Towers. Simply remembered as 9/11, the World Trade Centre’s twin towers were attacked and destroyed with hijacked civilian passenger aircraft by terrorists on September the eleventh 2001. This cowardly and heinous act killed almost three thousand innocent people and ran up a damage bill of around ten billion dollars. The U.S. government started an immediate war against terrorism and eventually discovering the whereabouts of the 9/11 perpetrator, Osama bin laden, they executed him and threw his body into the ocean to ensure he could never become a martyr to fundamentalist Muslims.

9. Hitler’s Bunker After the German defeat in Berlin, this was one of the first photographs taken of the dictator’s hidey hole, Führerbunker. It is reported that in the months that Hitler lived underground he was almost pathologically afraid to go outside. The man became thin and emaciated and some of the final military decisions made by him were catastrophic disasters for Germany. His proclamations and orders were contradictory and confusing for his commanders in the field. Hitler had the bunker constructed to withstand the wholesale bombing of Berlin by the allies. It had thirteen feet of concrete in the roof alone.

10. Enola Gay “Enola Gay” was the name given to the B-29 Super-fortress bomber which dropped the nuclear bomb on the city of Hiroshima in Japan and effectively began the process of ending the long and bloody conflict in the Pacific which claimed so many young soldiers’ lives. It was the first nuclear device to be used as a weapon of war, although much testing and trialing had been done beforehand in nuclear physics.

11. Tsar Nicholas II This 1899 photograph shows the last Russian Tsar horsing around with a friend. In 1917 he and his entire family were butchered by the Bolsheviks. His full inherited title was, Emperor of Russia, Grand Duke of Finland, and titular King of Poland. Shortened it was officially, Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias. During his reign Russia experienced many defeats, most notably against Japan, and much civil turmoil causing economic and military collapse. The alleged incompetent handling of Russia’s involvement in the Great War by the Tsar, which cost the lives of more than three million Imperial Soldiers, is believed to be one of the main causes of the fall of the Romanov dynasty.

12. Quagga This animal, once proliferate in the Karoo of Cape Province and the southern part of the Orange Free State in South Africa, is distinguished from other Zebras because the striped pattern peculiar to these animals is only found on the front. This picture was taken in 1870 at London Zoo in Regent’s Park and is believed to be the last known photograph of this now extinct species.

13. Disney Studio The Disney boys, Walt and Roy O, on the day they opened Disney Studio in 1923. Photographed with them are their wives and their Mother. They could never have dreamed what a massive and successful juggernaut they instigated, starting this small enterprise.

14. Times Square This rare picture depicts New York’s Times Square in 1911.

15. Billy The Kid Quoted as being, “The only surviving authenticated portrait of Billy the Kid," this tintype portrait sold at auction in June 2011 for USD $2,300,000.

16. Nikola Tesla in his Laboratory Nikola Tesla was a known inventor, engineer and physicist who made a remarkable contribution to the modern electricity supply system. Seen in this photo is an image of him at his laboratory with his magnifying transmitter.

18. The Eiffel Tower Captured in this photo is the repainting of the 300-meter Eiffel Tower in 1932. And yes, they don’t have enough safety equipment to secure the well-being of the workers.

19. Annette Kellerman Wearing One-Piece Bathing Suit During the 1900s, women wearing skimpy and tight-fitted outfit were arrested for being indecent and for causing an offense to society. That is exactly what happened to Kellerman as she promoted women’s rights to wear a one-piece bathing suit.

20. The Last Known Photo of the Titanic Above Water in 1912 The sinking of what was dubbed as the “unsinkable ship” is one of the biggest tragedies in the history of mankind. And this haunting image of the Titanic will forever leave us questioning the real cause of its demise.

21. Elvis Presley in the Army Did you know that the “King of Rock and Roll” actually served the United States Army? As a matter of fact, Presley was drafted sometime in March 1958 and served to March 1960 as a regular army serviceman with Army Serial Number: 53310761.

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