Proving yet again that in any field of inquiry Rizal emerges as the ubiquitous scholar, this photograph from the Dean C. Worcester Collection at the Newberry Library (Ayer Philippine Photographs) shows a drawing of objects he reportedly discovered on a hill near Dapitan. The inscription reads: “Anillo de oro con un rubí y una medallita, mallados en el limanon de Dapitan. Dibujo del …” (“Gold ring with a ruby and a small medal, engraved in the limanon of Dapitan. Drawing of …”).

Framed with floral motifs and described as relics of early Moro converts to Christianity, Rizal’s unfinished drawing reveals his ethnographic interest in his finds. Engraved medals like these often entered the anting-anting tradition and reimagined as protective talismans.