A tiny scent ball, a big UI question: guess first or reveal first?

Closed, this sixteenth-century German pomander looks like a small metal ornament. Open it, and it separates into hinged compartments with sliding covers. The Met records labels for aromatics including cinnamon, cloves, and rosemary. It is only about 6.7 cm tall.

That hidden interior is a useful design problem for my project: showing the opened photo explains the object immediately, but showing the closed photo first leaves room for a guess.

I'm the independent developer behind The Oddities Cabinet, an AI-assisted museum quiz site. The current version has 20 illustrated guessing stories and a wider catalogue of 1,000 real museum objects. Visitors can guess, reveal the explanation, or go straight to the story; no account is required.

Try this particular story: https://oddities-museum.pages.dev/objects/pomander/?utm_source=producthunt

For anyone who tries it: is the choice between guessing and reading immediately clear on your phone? Which would make you want to explore a second object, the closed-photo mystery or an immediate before-and-after view?

Museum record and public-domain photograph: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/196980

AI assistance was used for the project and this draft. The object details were checked against the museum record; this is an independent project, not a museum partnership.