1. A living portrait of Wymerus the Weird, completed in Paris, France in 1599 by the painter Roger Follie. Wymerus was portrayed as an old man with long grey hair and a dirty beard, red of face, dressed rather like a monk in a sackcloth and sandals. He gulped from a perpetual pitcher of ale and spat out curses at people who disturbed him. It seemed Mr. Follie did not much like the subject of his painting; it’s not all too flattering. The other portraits in the hall did not seem to like Wymerus, either, and neglected to tell security staff of his absence for at least ten minutes.2. An opulently decorated egg, in a similar style to those made in the house of Fabergé. It was given to the MACUSA president at the time as a gift in the year 1901. It’s about the size of a goose-egg, painted light green, with delicate silver tracing in vine patterns. Clusters of pearl form lilies of the valley. It does not appear to be inherently magical, some things in this museum are just pretty.3. A crystal bowl that traps and kills or destroys any item, including human flesh, that is placed within it. Within seconds, any item, including often hands, are rendered to dust. It’s an extremely cursed item, nicknamed the Venus Fly Trap candy bowl. The bowl was seized after a raid on a pureblood manor. Year of acquirement 1822; original artist unknown. This was in one of the deeper vaults, not because of any danger to the public from this fairly limited vessel, but because of the intense necrotic curses that could not be unwound from the bowl.4. The Staff of Hermes, a simple etched ash wand made of wood. This is the oldest magical wand on record, dug up in 1962 by wizard archaeologists in Athens, Greece, and dates back to the 6th century, B.C.E. It was preserved very well because of its inherent magic and is surprisingly ornate for such an old tool. It does look like a traditional staff of Hermes, with two snakes wound around the staff, hissing at each other.5. An ornate silver dagger, without a sheath. This was made of fine goblin-wrought material and pilfered from a mansion by a statesman’s wife in 1734. They decided to donate it to the national archive because of its fine quality, and there it’s been ever since, to avoid any international unpleasantness. Although the original owner, Richard Pye, started rumors that this dagger sucked the souls of those it pricks out of their bodies, there is absolutely no evidence to support that conclusion.
Other options: