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Rare Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.)Oversize Commemorative “Brass Rat” Class Ring
Massive promotional ring /decoration suitablefor display. 25th reunion commemorative item. This oversize ring isabout twice the size of a normal ring (2x).
New, never used or displayed. Seephotos!
Markings, cast or engraved in the ring
Top: M.I.T. mascot ‘TIM’ the Beaver, nature’spreeminent engineer
Bottom: 25th Reunion
Left Side: Great Dome over “MIT”
Right Side: Great Dome over “1973”
KeyFacts
Material:Solid brass
Dimensionat widest point: 2 5/16 inches
Insidediameter of ‘finger hole’: 1 5/8 inches
Weight:9 ounces
Legend has it - the Brass Rat Ring is the third most recognized ring in the world, after the Superbowl ring and the Pope ring.
SomeNotable M.I.T. Brass Rat Appearances:
John Harvard Statue, Cambridge, MA (1979): A cast bronze Brass Rat was temporarily attached to a finger of the John Harvard statue in Harvard Yard in May 1979 as a hack (prank). The statue itself was sculpted by famous Daniel Chester French (Lincoln Memorial), himself an MIT alumnus.
StirCrazy (1980): Inmate Grossberger, played byErland Van Lidth De Jeude, a 1976 MIT graduate, wears his Brass Rat on camera.
Beginning in1980, a small yacht moored in Wellfleet Harbor on Cape Cod is named "BrassRat," rumored to belong to a retired M.I.T. professor.
Sneakers(1992): Cosmo, played by Jo Marr, hacksinto a computer network in the opening scene while wearing a Brass Rat. Thepolice rush past the iconic columns of 77 Massachusetts Avenue to arrest him.
In 1996, AstronautKenneth D. Cameron, an MIT graduate, delivers a talk at MIT and presents thenMIT President Charles Vest with an oversize version of a Brass Rat(similar to the one in this listing) that Cameron had taken to the Russianspace station Mir.
IronMan (2008): Lieutenant Colonel James"Rhodey" Rhodes, played by Terrence Howard, and Tony Stark, played byRobert Downey, Jr., both wearing the Brass Rat, visible on their fingers.
International Space Station (2012): The 2012 brass rat, which includes a model of the Apollo lunar lander on the Great Dome, traveled aboard the space shuttle Endeavor to the International Space Station. Astronaut T.J. Creamer, SM 1992, received it.
Ghostbusters(2016): Scientist & Ghostbuster ErinGilbert, played by Kristen Wiig, can be seen wearing a rather large Brass Rat in severalscenes, and later wears an MIT sweatshirt.
