the.com/display case
glass that turns ownership into worship and a price tag into a shrine
means A box or cabinet, usually fronted or topped with glass, used to show off objects while keeping them protected and untouched.
from A plain English compound: "display" comes through Old French "despleier" from Latin "displicare," to unfold or scatter (literally "un-fold," the same fold-root that gives us "ply" and "plait") — what began as spreading something open became putting it on show. "Case" descends from Latin "capsa," a box or container, a cousin of "capere," to hold or take. So the term is honest about itself: a holding-box for unfolding things to the eye.
- museum standard
- sealed cases hold inert argon gas to stop decay
- bulletproof option
- Mona Lisa sits behind layered anti-reflective bulletproof glass
- retail trick
- locking the cheap stuff signals expense and triggers desire
- word origin
- from Old French meaning to scatter or unfold widely
british museum great court — glass roof covers 6,000 sqm central courtyard with 8 million objects in surrounding galleries
vitruvian man glass case — leonardo da vinci's 1490 drawing displayed in climate-controlled case at gallerie dell'accademia, venice
hope diamond case — 45.52-carat blue diamond in bulletproof display case at smithsonian institution, washington dc