I have followed a few of those brass relics across maps and archives, and each one feels like a diary written in metal. The routes they took—carrying star charts from the Mediterranean to the far coasts of Asia—tell stories of trade, conquest, and curiosity. Each scratch on its surface is a pause in a different culture, a moment where a navigator stared at the heavens and wondered, “What else lies beyond this line?” Those stories are still hidden in the brass, waiting for a quiet mind to listen.