In the late 19thcentury , a businessman appoint P.D. Gwaltney Jr.brainstormed a bizarre wayto advertize his salt - cured pork business . He take aim a 20 - year - sure-enough cured ham , which had somehow never been sold , and append a taking into custody and leash to the lump of meat . Gwaltney sum his “ positron emission tomography ham ” along to food exhibition , and used it to blow about his companionship ’s skill at porc conservation .
Today , the 113 - yr - old goody sits in theIsle of Wight County Museumin Smithfield , Virginia , in homage to Gwaltney ’s eccentric bequest . Over the year , the ham has transform into something of a local celebrity . In 2014 , museum officialsthrew it a 112thbirthday party . A recent “ Pan Ham ” competition offered traveler the chance to photograph themselves at tourer attractions with a picture of Gwaltney and his ham actor . you’re able to even catch a glimpse of the wizened relicvia the museum ’s Ham Cam , which live - streams the prized attractive force sitting in a especially designed display case .
Nobody require to exhaust what ’s purported to be the humanity ’s oldest edible cure ham — but academician do desire to 3D publish it . According to 3DPrint.com , a curator at the Isle of Wight County Museum latterly invited archaeologistBernard Meansto skim several artifacts , including the jambon . Means , who teaches at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of World Studies , heads the school’sVirtual Curation Laboratory , where research worker and student produce 3D images and prints of archaeological artifact and cadaver . He digitized the ex meat using two unlike handheld scanners .
The museum design to post the ham images on its website and societal media accounts . They might also 3D mark the ham , since museum supporter who want to palpate the heirloom are n’t allowed to touch the original .
Of course , no 3-D - printed meat is complete without a side dish aerial of legumes . The Isle of Wight County Museum also owns “ the reality ’s oldest peanut , ” which was unearthed on Gwaltney ’s father ’s farm in 1890 . ( As with his jambon antics , Gwaltney used the age food to peddle peanuts to the masses.)“How could one resist three-D scanning the world ’s oldest ham and world ’s honest-to-goodness Arachis hypogaea ? ” Means asked .
[ h / t3dPrint.com ]
