Accession No
6516
Brief Description
four crystal models, by Karel Vrba, Czech, early 20th Century
Origin
Austria-Hungary [now Czech Republic]; Prague
Maker
Vrba, Karel
Class
crystallography; demonstration
Earliest Date
1880
Latest Date
1922
Inscription Date
Material
paper (card)
Dimensions
[6516.1] 165mm wide x 98mm deep x 200mm tall. [6516.2] 205mm wide x 100mm deep x 160mm tall. [6516.3] 123mm wide x 90mm deep x 160mm tall. [6516.4] 140mm wide x 140mm deep x 130mm tall.
Special Collection
Provenance
Purchased from Christie’s South Kensington, 85 Old Brompton Road, London, SW7 3LD. Lot number 40 in Travel, Science and Natural History sale, 6/04/2011.
Inscription
[6516.2] “156a”; “22.”
[6516.3] “126.”; “26.”; “26”; “197”.
[6516.4] “5”; “7”.
Description Notes
Four cardboard crystal models, by Karel Vrba, Prague, early 20th century.
Hollow yellow card polyhedra, with black tape along edges.
[6516.1] Rhombohedral [trigonal] crystal structure model.
[6516.2] Rhombohedral [trigonal] crystal structure model. Shorter than 6516.1, and made with a paler yellow card. On one top face is inscribed in pen “156a” and below that “22.”
[6516.3] Hexagonal crystal structure model. On one side face are pasted two paper labels, with “126.” and “26.” printed on. Above the “126.” is written in manuscript pencil “26”. On the “26.” label is written in manuscript pen “197”.
[6516.4] Octahedral crystal structure model. In corner of one face is a round paper label with a “5” printed on. Next to this written in manuscript ink is “7”.
Condition: good/fair. Complete. Some scuffing to corners and marks on faces.
References
Events
Description
Karel Vrba (1845–1922) was a prominent scientific figure in Bohemia towards the end of the nineteenth century. Born at Klatovy in west Bohemia, he studied science at Prague and graduated in 1868. His first position after schooling was Assistant to the Professor of Mineralogy, Dr. V. von Zepharovich, and later docent in petrography. In 1880, he was appointed Professor of Mineralogy at Czernowitz in Bukovina. A year later he moved back to Prague and became Director of the Prague Institute of Mineralogical and Petrography and Mineralogical Administrator of the Museum collections of the Czech Kingdom. During his appointment, there was a complete overhaul of the mineral collections: to make the collection as complete and representative as possible, Vrba acquired many new specimens. He gave the first detailed descriptions (sometimes as long monographs) of twenty-nine minerals, mostly from the local area though a few came from abroad, including one from Bolivia. The accounts of Stephanite (1895) and Pisek Beryls (1888) are regarded as Czech classics in science.
10/03/2014
Created by: Allison Ksiazkiewicz on 10/03/2014
FM:47025
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