Re: Where to buy fossil skull replicas - Any suggestions?

[Danvarner@aol.com]

In a message dated 12/4/01 7:43:11 AM Pacific Standard Time, 
rpavley@hotmail.com writes:


<< My wife is looking to buy me a replica fossil skull for the holidays.  
Does 
anyone have a favorite place (store/web site) that has a selection in the 
$100 - $200 range (I do not have space for a 72" Triceratops let alone the 
budget)? >>


       This brought back memories. Back in Minneapolis in the 50's of the 
last century there was a local Saturday morning kid's TV program called 
"Hobby Showcase". A feature of the show had a line of kids showing off their 
model-making projects. The winner would get a supply of the powerful "10 
Minute Glue". One Saturday I'm watching and some kid shows up with a 
Triceratops skeleton about a foot long. Of course, my six-year-old brains 
fell out and I became almost comatose. I had my mom call Woodcraft Hobby 
store (who sponsored the show) to find out how I could get one. It turned out 
the damn kid was one of those creative types and had actually carved the 
thing out of wood. There was no kit. Fast-forward a year or two and now I 
have the beautiful Tyrannosaurus skeleton made by Ideal Toys. It's a beauty. 
On the side panel of the box it came in are pictures of models that will 
appear in stores soon. Triceratops is coming! Year after year I plague the 
hobby shops. Brontosaurus comes out followed by Neanderthal man both as a 
skeleton and a fleshed-out restoration. Stegosaurus, too. But never, ever 
Triceratops. They lied to me!
       There could be a happy ending to this lengthy Christmas story. Ralph 
Chapman and the folks at the Smithsonian could go into the model business and 
mass produce an affordable version of their digital Triceratops--my Christmas 
wish. I held the little version of the skull at SVP and it was quite the 
miracle. Here's a shot of a somewhat larger scale: DV
       http://muweb.millersville.edu/~dinosaur/g28.jpg 
       and
       http://muweb.millersville.edu/~dinosaur/g43.jpg