When we speak of “intellectual property today,” we are likening the right to profit from one’s unique idea to the right to benefit from workable land that is individually possessed. How did this analogy, between the products of the mind and the fruits of nature come into being? In this talk, Shira Brisman argues that sixteenth-century German goldsmith-engravers played a unique role in advancing the metaphor between the creative output of craftsmen and the gatherable resources of the earth.