Yet for all their seeming impenetrability they were flexible, thanks to an ingenious lamellar structure essentially, strips made of lacquered metal bound together with colored or gold laces.

WSJ: Dressed to Kill in Peacetime | Samurai! | Museum of Fine Arts, Boston | By Lee Lawrence

The earphones arrive a couple of weeks later in a metal clamshell case that, along with colored earpieces, conceals what would otherwise look something like a pair of hearing aides.

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Increasing pomp and opulence distinguish Phyfe's work from 1815 to 1825, which features richly figured mahogany, kingwood, rosewood, white and colored marble, brass inlay, lavish gilding and finely cast mounts of ormolu (gilt metal).

WSJ: Duncan Phyfe | Furniture for a Young Nation | By Barrymore Laurence Scherer