An exciting visit to the Natural History Museum last week to examine their collection of scale models from Crystal Palace Dinosaurs. The original models were created by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins during the design process for the statues. He made them to scale, then showed them to experts with the intention of modifying their technical accuracy. There are some fascinating differences between the models and the statues as they were eventually constructed. Most of these scale models have been lost, and we really dont know for sure how many were originally produced. Five different models have survived to today because they were packaged by Waterhouse Hawkins and the geologist/merchant, James Tennant into a group for sale in the UK. This set later also was sold in North America by Henry Ward. (His 1866 catalogue shows the set of 5 models.) Best known of the scale models are Iguanodon and Megalosaurus, with numerous images on the internet. Much harder to find is the group of three marine reptiles: Ichthyosaurus and two Plesiosaurs. This is a fascinating piece and deserves very close study. Were working on a complete UK list of the copies to have survived, and well be publishing that shortly. Sadly, the original scale models dont seem to have survived - weve not found any originals yet. Early copies are the closest weve found thus far.
Posted on: Mon, 03 Nov 2014 17:07:50 +0000
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