The Danny Jewel is a gem with a difference. Where you might expect to see an emerald or ruby hangs instead a grey and underwhelming segment of what looks like tree bark. But this is a treasure more valuable than a pearl or diamond: it’s the tusk of a unicorn. Worn, it would ward off evil. Powdered, it would purify any poison. Unicorn-leather shoes were said to protect you from plague, fever and all pain. The horn, dipped into any well’s water, would make it safe to drink. The only downside … the unicorn doesn’t exist. The fragment of “horn” in the Danny Jewel is almost certainly a shaving of narwhal tusk. But after a gallop to Scotland and back to visit the new Perth
FIRST NIGHT | VISUAL ART
Perth Museum review — unicorns join the Stone of Destiny
After a sympathetic £27m overhaul Perth Museum opens with this show about the mystical creature, and allows you to watch generations of historical kings sit on a Scottish national treasure
The Unicorns (1920) by John Duncan in Perth Museum’s inaugural exhibition
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL
The Times
