Restoration of two great auk ( Pinguinus impennis ) eggs: Bourman Labrey's egg and the Scarborough egg
Most of the approximately 75 known eggs of the extinct great auk ( Pinguinus impennis) are in public museums, with a few in private collections. A small number of these eggs has sustained damage, either at the time of collection or subsequently, and two of these eggs are known to have been repaired....
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Edinburgh University Press
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credinunivpr:10.3366/anh.2020.0663 2023-06-18T03:40:45+02:00 Restoration of two great auk ( Pinguinus impennis ) eggs: Bourman Labrey's egg and the Scarborough egg Birkhead, T. R. Axon, G. Middleton, J. R. 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.3366/anh.2020.0663 https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/full-xml/10.3366/anh.2020.0663 en eng Edinburgh University Press https://www.euppublishing.com/customer-services/librarians/text-and-data-mining-tdm Archives of Natural History volume 47, issue 2, page 392-401 ISSN 0260-9541 1755-6260 Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous) History Anthropology journal-article 2020 credinunivpr https://doi.org/10.3366/anh.2020.0663 2023-06-08T13:40:44Z Most of the approximately 75 known eggs of the extinct great auk ( Pinguinus impennis) are in public museums, with a few in private collections. A small number of these eggs has sustained damage, either at the time of collection or subsequently, and two of these eggs are known to have been repaired. The two eggs suffered rather different types of damage and were subsequently restored using different techniques. The first, known as Bourman Labrey's egg, sustained extensive damage sometime prior to the 1840s, when the shell was broken into numerous pieces. This egg was repaired by William Yarrell in the 1840s, and when it was restored again in 2018, it was discovered that Yarrell's restoration had involved the use of an elaborate cardboard armature. This egg is currently in a private collection. The second egg, known as the Scarborough egg, bequeathed to the Scarborough Museum in 1877, was damaged (by unknown causes) and repaired, probably by the then curator at Scarborough, W. J. Clarke, in 1906. This egg was damaged when one or more pieces were broken adjacent to the blowhole at the narrow end (where there was some pre-existing damage). The media reports at the time exaggerated the extent of the damage, suggesting that the egg was broken almost in two. Possible reasons for this exaggeration are discussed. Recent examination using a black light and ultraviolet (UV) revealed that the eggshell had once borne the words, “a Penguin's Egg”, that were subsequently removed by scraping. Article in Journal/Newspaper Great auk Pinguinus impennis Edinburgh University Press (via Crossref) Scarborough ENVELOPE(-96.000,-96.000,60.000,60.000) Archives of Natural History 47 2 392 401 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Edinburgh University Press (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
credinunivpr |
language |
English |
topic |
Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous) History Anthropology |
spellingShingle |
Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous) History Anthropology Birkhead, T. R. Axon, G. Middleton, J. R. Restoration of two great auk ( Pinguinus impennis ) eggs: Bourman Labrey's egg and the Scarborough egg |
topic_facet |
Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous) History Anthropology |
description |
Most of the approximately 75 known eggs of the extinct great auk ( Pinguinus impennis) are in public museums, with a few in private collections. A small number of these eggs has sustained damage, either at the time of collection or subsequently, and two of these eggs are known to have been repaired. The two eggs suffered rather different types of damage and were subsequently restored using different techniques. The first, known as Bourman Labrey's egg, sustained extensive damage sometime prior to the 1840s, when the shell was broken into numerous pieces. This egg was repaired by William Yarrell in the 1840s, and when it was restored again in 2018, it was discovered that Yarrell's restoration had involved the use of an elaborate cardboard armature. This egg is currently in a private collection. The second egg, known as the Scarborough egg, bequeathed to the Scarborough Museum in 1877, was damaged (by unknown causes) and repaired, probably by the then curator at Scarborough, W. J. Clarke, in 1906. This egg was damaged when one or more pieces were broken adjacent to the blowhole at the narrow end (where there was some pre-existing damage). The media reports at the time exaggerated the extent of the damage, suggesting that the egg was broken almost in two. Possible reasons for this exaggeration are discussed. Recent examination using a black light and ultraviolet (UV) revealed that the eggshell had once borne the words, “a Penguin's Egg”, that were subsequently removed by scraping. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Birkhead, T. R. Axon, G. Middleton, J. R. |
author_facet |
Birkhead, T. R. Axon, G. Middleton, J. R. |
author_sort |
Birkhead, T. R. |
title |
Restoration of two great auk ( Pinguinus impennis ) eggs: Bourman Labrey's egg and the Scarborough egg |
title_short |
Restoration of two great auk ( Pinguinus impennis ) eggs: Bourman Labrey's egg and the Scarborough egg |
title_full |
Restoration of two great auk ( Pinguinus impennis ) eggs: Bourman Labrey's egg and the Scarborough egg |
title_fullStr |
Restoration of two great auk ( Pinguinus impennis ) eggs: Bourman Labrey's egg and the Scarborough egg |
title_full_unstemmed |
Restoration of two great auk ( Pinguinus impennis ) eggs: Bourman Labrey's egg and the Scarborough egg |
title_sort |
restoration of two great auk ( pinguinus impennis ) eggs: bourman labrey's egg and the scarborough egg |
publisher |
Edinburgh University Press |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3366/anh.2020.0663 https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/full-xml/10.3366/anh.2020.0663 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-96.000,-96.000,60.000,60.000) |
geographic |
Scarborough |
geographic_facet |
Scarborough |
genre |
Great auk Pinguinus impennis |
genre_facet |
Great auk Pinguinus impennis |
op_source |
Archives of Natural History volume 47, issue 2, page 392-401 ISSN 0260-9541 1755-6260 |
op_rights |
https://www.euppublishing.com/customer-services/librarians/text-and-data-mining-tdm |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3366/anh.2020.0663 |
container_title |
Archives of Natural History |
container_volume |
47 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
392 |
op_container_end_page |
401 |
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1769006000829890560 |