Four-Bit Characters: Bashford Dean

The Museum Curator for the Arms and Armor Department of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art during the 1920s, Dean was tasked with designing prototype helmets for American soldiers in the Great War. He is also an accomplished zoologist specializing in ichthyology and fluent in English and Japanese. He has a great eye for detail and is an accurate appraiser of ancient artifacts, especially martial ones. He is a historian familiar with the occult and can make detailed scientific drawings. As a curator, he has access to the Met’s considerable financial resources if the endeavor would benefit the museum.