Priceless Blaschka models on display | Natural History Museum

The delicate glass artworks of sea creatures crafted by father-and-son team Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka were made between 1866 to 1889. Find out how Museum staff prepared them to go on display in the new Treasure gallery.
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[@sharondornhoff7563]

In grad school nearly thirty years ago, I was given the work-study assignment to search through decades of obsolete or abandoned lab junk from the old soon-to-be-demolished Zoology building at the University of Minnesota. There were a few salvageable items, plus whole wheelbarrow-loads of complete trash - replacement parts for flame-illuminated microscopes, hundreds of slides of sectioned rat testes from some 1950s endocrinology study, etc - that were barely worth recycling, but also a handful of real treasures that it broke my heart to see in such neglected condition. Most heartbreaking of all were half a dozen or so *gorgeous* glass invertebrate models - jellyfish, larval zooplankton, anemones - that were terribly cracked or broken into pieces. I don't know if they were actually Blaschka handiworks or something another glassblower had copycatted, but if I could go back in time and box up those poor battered things, I'd gladly entrust them to any conservator who could do something to restore them to their full glory. 😞

[@veegoetz]

amazing - how did they provide such intricate detail in glass - obviously they were brilliant scientists and artists

[@brucebartrug25]

How incomparable. How beautiful.

[@Charleysfca]

Hurray for the museum!

[@zaidawing6349]

Amazing videos ... I visited the glass flowers at Harvard some years back before they were cleaned and restored ... the exhibition was fascinating though cramped and poorly lit ... I cannot wait to visit the glass flowers again.

[@cellinimedusa4679]

Astonishing

[@XaaliOReilly]

stunning

[@Liuhuayue]

In the thumbnail, I thought I saw an owl with black tentacles coming out.

[@OneKindWord]

How many places have Blaschka works?
Harvard’s Ware Collection of glass flowers has the largest number,
New York’s Museum of Natural History has some,
Corning Museum of Glass has a few also.
A search of the internet reveals a small number of pieces privately sold at auction.
Are there other places with any more?

[@valeriehenderson241]

There are 2 in the Treasures Room in the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, London UK. I only read about the Ware Glass Collection from a book called Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. The book was good, the collection is just out of this world. I haven't been to America for years but the glass flower collection is definitely worth a visit.

[@clemdesimpelaere1872]

The Aquarium Museum in Liège Belgium has a collection : about 35 pieces.

[@sandrahammond5566]

I saw the glass flowers at Harvard University when I was 10.(1959) I did not see any of these Sea animals.

[@rob16248]

Hi NHM, thanks for this upload. I went to your museum, a week or two back and was a bit miffed to see only a few of these on display.
Any chance you can display more, in the near future?

[@randychaparral2124]

first contact 4 4 2018

[@randychaparral2124]

for me