Re: Fossil Replica List

[rowe@lepomis.psych.upenn.edu (Mickey Rowe)]

Greg Claytor <greg1@svpal.org> wrote:

> A few months ago I requested names and addresses of companies,
> museums, institutions, etc. that sell fossil replicas.  

I can add a few to your list.  All of these have exhibits at the
American Association of Museums conference, so I've seen
representative samples of their work.  Never having really tried to
purchase this sort of thing (yeah, I know, half of you are thinking
"what's wrong with that guy" :-) I'm not sure how much you should
expect to pay for such things, but I thought that the prices offered
by the first one seemed pretty good.  Who'd of thought you could get a
cast of _Pterodactylus kocki_ as preserved in the Solnhofen Limestone
Formation for only $29?  You can get a similar cast of _Archaeopteryx
lithographica_ for only $95.  To get a catalogue listing these and
many other wonders, the following information will be of use:

Taylor Studios
P.O. Box 1063
Mahomet, IL 61853

Voice: (217) 586-2047
Fax:   (217) 586-6309

If you've got a bit more cash to throw around and a huge mantel, you
can get a _Styracosaurus_ skull for $4875 (plus shipping, taxes and
crating costs) from:

Canadian Museum of Nature
P.O. Box 3443, Station "D"
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 6P4

Voice:  (613) 566-4215
Fax:    (613) 991-0403

What might be more affordable and handle-able (particularly for a
school classroom) is their Leptoceratops skull.  It's only $825 (both
it and the Styracosaurus are "painted Polyester" -- very lightweight.)
The Canadian Museum of Nature is also on the net.  It looks like the
most appropriate address to write to would be: rbrassard@mus-nature.ca
The owner of that account, Reine Brassard, is the manager of the sales
division.  She also has her own phone and fax: voice: (613) 990-4855
fax: (613) 990-7582.  As I understood things, they don't yet have a
real catalog.  They are in the process of putting one together,
though. 

Another one that seems to have the imprimatur of The Dinosaur Society
is:

The Dinosaur Company, Inc. (A Division of Mark International) 
190 Canon Drive, Suite 218
Berverly Hills, CA 90210

Voice:  (800) 418-DINO
Fax:    (310) 273-5055

Don Lessem is the president of the company.  The literature that I got
from them doesn't list individual pieces because it's geared more
towards the production of complete museum exhibits.  The exhibitions
director for the company is Linda Deck -- Ralph Chapman's wife.
Clearly this is a high quality outfit.  It's not clear to me that they
actually sell things through the mail, though; a leaflet for one of
their current product lines, the Art Dinosaur Series, says that their
merchandise "can be found in museum stores, specialty catalogs and
major toy and hobby stores."  It directs you to the above phone number
for information or the location of a store near you.  The Art Dinosaur
Series is a group of porcelain replicas of a Tyrannosaurus, a
Triceratops, a Stegosaurus and a Brachiosaurus.  They are molded in
white, and come with all the supplies you'll need to paint them any
colors you want.  Just to let you know what you're getting from these
guys... the stegosaurus in this series (and in some plastic dinosaur
toys the company had on display) have horizontal tail spikes.

There were a couple of other displays, but I think the above were the
most accessible.  Others geared towards museums even moreso than The
Dinosaur Company.  

Hope the above is useful to you.  If you contact any of the places
based on my recommendation (by the way, I have no affiliation with any
of the above companies; I've never even bought any of their stuff so
far as I know), you might want to let them know that you found out
about them because of their participation at AAM '95.

-- 
Mickey Rowe     (rowe@lepomis.psych.upenn.edu)