Victorian Taxidermy Information

Victorian Antique Taxidermy

We get asked to recommend Victorian Taxidermy dealers and Victorian Taxidermy Resources by our friends, we now include below examples of Victorian taxidermy and useful information and contacts in this arena. Please feel free to browse. If you have any specific informtion pertaining to cases and or Victorian taxidermist, please let us know and we shall put it in this section of the website.
The aim of this website apart from buying good quality examples of this artform is also to create a centre of information so that individuals can expand their own personal knowledge and also contribute to shared knowledge of this subject matter.

We are always very interested in Purchasing Victorian Taxidermy, please respond via this on-line form of what you have for sale. HERE

Alternatively you can simply call 07917 052624 and we will be more than pleased to take your call. Single items or collections will also be considered.

Interesting glass plate of an English Victorian taxidermist. Interesting to see the species mounted which include Red Squirrels, Ptarmigan in winter pluamge and Dippers. The taxidermist is unknown currently, but an interesting window in history nevertheless.

Victorian Taxidermy Collections

We have just completed a review of Major European Bird Collections. This was partly due to the term "value" being attributed to cases of birds either by certain artists and their rarity in terms of availability. This term has always intrigued, given the fact that taxidermy has been so out of fashion for so long.
The need therefore to understand the number and therefore the potential availability of such items is of interest. We concentrated on "major" collections as to be able to determine the exact number of small collections would be too onerous. Therefore we concentrated on those collections that were once private and are now in public hands. Collections that were obtained principally around 1830 onwards until say 1920.

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Merlins by The famous Victorian Taxidermist Peter Spicer of Leamington Spa.
The figure outlined below also does not include birds eggs, skeletons or nests. Clearly many of the major firms, Ward, Gunn, Spicer, Kirk, Murray, Cullingford etc etc would have been commissioned to undertake the work as it would have been a requirement to ensure that the items were anatomically correct. Anyway the total figure for items of either bird skins or mounts of birds only in the UK, is approximately. 1.2 million items. In museums today clearly we only see a fraction of these on display. Image the task just to ensure that they remain in good condition?. Still think this stuff is rare?

Although Victorian Taxidermist's attitudes to wildlife seem almost barbaric by modern standards, it should be remembered that Victorian naturalists did not access to binoculars or cameras. Often, the only method of identifying flying specimens was to shoot first and study afterwards. This is not an excuse, merely a factual reality. Also in the defence of the Victorian and perhaps the suggestion that they were responsible for the decimation of various species, this is perhaps true. It is however nothing compared with today's industrial society. Habitat loss, liberal and perhaps unregulated use of herbicides, insecticides have also taken their toll. Not to mention massive growth in the worlds population and the demands that makes. Yes the Victorians played their part, but today we are causing significant envrionmental damage, the results of which we have no knowledge.

Cornish Choughs by The famous Victorian Taxidermist Hutchinson of Derby. This firm were famous for their mixed cases of both British birds and Exotic birds imported following Darwin's successful expeditions around the globe. Choughs were extinct from Cornwall for a number of years, but it is understood that they are now back and numbers are increasing steadily.
Cornish Choughs
The chough was once widespread around the coasts of Britain but has declined since the early nineteenth century, with only about 300 pairs left, mainly in Wales, the Isle of Man and western Scotland, although a larger population is present in Eire. A decline in suitable feeding habitat is thought to be the main reason for the loss of the chough from England, with many of the well-grazed pastures that were once common along the coast ploughed up for arable crops or overgrown with scrub.
Cornwall was once a stronghold for Choughs, they last nested in the county in 1952, long after they had been lost from the rest of England. As the chough declined, so it became an increasingly prized target for egg collectors and trophy hunters and this may have finally sealed the bird's fate in Cornwall.
In 2001 four wild choughs were seen in west Cornwall and three took up residence, leading to hopes that they might stay to breed. Developments were eagerly awaited during the early spring of 2002 and to everyone's delight two of the birds began nesting. By mid-April they had built a nest tucked away out of sight within a sea cave and the female had begun to incubate a clutch of eggs - the first Coughs to breed in Cornwall (and England) for 50 years. A team of dedicated volunteers provided a round-the-clock watch over the birds to ensure illegal egg collectors could not raid the nest and thereby ruin any chance of the chough returning to Cornwall.

Charles.W.Peale (1741-1827)

Charles.W.Peale (1741-1827).
Charles Willson Peale was was born in Chester, Queen Anne's County, Maryland, the son of Charles Peale and his wife Margaret. In 1749 his brother James Peale (1749-1831) was born. Charles became an apprentice to a saddle maker when he was thirteen years old. Upon reaching maturity, he opened his own saddle shop; however, when his Loyalist creditors discovered he had joined the Sons of Liberty, they conspired to bankrupt his business.
Peale had a great interest in natural history, and organized the first U.S. scientific expedition in 1801. These two major interests combined in his founding of what became the Philadelphia Museum, and was later renamed the Peale Museum. This museum is considered the first It housed a diverse collection of botanical, biological, and archaeological specimens. Most notably, the museum contained a large variety of birds which Peale himself acquired, and it was the first to display North American mammoth bones.
The display of the mammoth bones entered Peale into a long standing debate between Thomas Jefferson and Comte de Buffon. Buffon argued that Europe was superior to the Americas biologically, which was illustrated through the size of animals found there. Jefferson referenced the existence of these mammoths (which he believed still roamed northern regions of the continent) as evidence for a greater biodiversity in America. Peale's display of these bones drew attention from Europe, as did his method of re-assembling large skeletal specimens in three dimensions.
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Charles Peale's longroom.
Although Peale continued to paint, his later years were dominated by a growing interest in natural history and science. Ingenious exhibits of stuffed animals and birds (as well as the reconstructed skeleton of a mammouth that Peale himself unearthed) shared the spaces at Peale's museum with his renderings of American heroes and other notables. A true "universal man" who plunged with equal enthusiasm into taxidermy, "moving pictures," making false teeth and designing mechanical farm equipment, Charles Willson Peale is best remembered as the "Artist of the American Revolution." His collection of birds inspired ornithologists like John James Audubon, Charles Bonaparte, and Alexander Wilson, and his stuffed specimens became the basis for works such as Wilson's American Ornithology and Godman's American Natural History. Peale's remarkable museum was celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic, as his work fascinated and inspired others to investigate the world of nature.

Charles Peale's Montgomery Masterdon 1801.
By 1810, the museum had also acquired 21 specimens of the simia or "monkey tribe," and Peale even had high hopes to one day include actual specimens of Homo sapiens in the museum. He settled, however, for costumed figures of different races of mankind which he made himself. Numerous species of fish, shells, frogs, turtles, lizards, water snakes, cranes ducks, geese, herons, quail, bears, squirrels, leopards, tigers, wild-cats, fox, raccoons, and rabbits filled the museum. Additionally, the museum also had a zoo where live animals such as a grizzly bear could be viewed up close.
Over the years, he had developed a method of preserving animals which involved the use of arsenic. The arsenic made his health deteriorate, and Peale moved away from the city in an attempt to recover. In 1810, C.W. Peale left the museum in the care of his son, Rembrandt, and bought a farm in Germantown. Shortly thereafter, his second wife died, and Peale married a third time. He died on February 22, 1827 in his bed in his home in Germantown, Maryland.
Upon Peale's death, the museum was sold to the showmen P.T. Barnum and Moses Kimball, who split it up. Today, much of the collection is in the Peale Museum in Baltimore. Rembrandt Peale founded the Baltimore museum and designed the building; it is now managed by the Maryland Historical Society.

Ulisse Aldrovandi

Ulisse Aldrovandi.
Born in 1522, Aldrovandi lived between the times of Da Vinci and Galileo. Like these geniuses of their times, Aldrovandi too got himself in hot water with the church. Arrested for heresy for espousing anti-trinitarian beliefs, Aldrovandi was transfered to Rome. On a sort of loose house-arrest, the time in Rome proved to have a silver lining; Aldrovandi began to cultivate an intense interest in the natural world. Up to this point, very little existed in the way of collections of natural specimens. The only collections belonged to apothecaries and were liable to be ground up into medicated powder on a moment’s notice, but Aldrovandi was about to change all this.
His interests ranged widely from botany to zoology to geology, a word he is thought to have coined. At the young age of 31, after serving out his sentence for heresy, he began collecting anything of natural interest he could get his hands on. He would eventually assemble over 18,000 “diversità di cose naturali” creating the first great cabinet of curiosity, one of the first natural history museums (open only to scholars and aristocrats), jump starting the modern study of natural history. Ole Worm, who was to create one of the most famous cabinets of curiosity modeled his after Aldrovandi, and Linnaeus, who created the system of taxonomy, called him the father of natural history. Aldrovani was an obsessive collector and he had a taste for the bizarre. One of the many books he wrote was Monstrorium Historia, a compendium of all known human and animal monstrosities. His collection contained what would have been some of the earliest taxidermy. He even owned a dragon or two. Shortly before his death he gave his collection to the university of Bologna. It would be another 50 years before Aldrovandi’s collection was acquired by another Italian naturalist and showman, Ferdinando Cospi.
Ferdinando Cospi would take the collection and add greatly to its contents, though not always its credibility. Adding such natural wonders as fish-bird hybrids and a mermaid, Cospi went so far as to have a dwarf act as the guide to the now enormous collection of natural wonders. How the dwarf felt about his dual role as guide and addition to the collection is unknown, though easily surmised

"The Pugilists". This image looks like the work of Edward Hart of Winchester.

Williams & Sons, Dublin 1850-1941

Wonderful postcard depicting the front of William's shop in Dublin dated 1908.

Female Shovelor duck by Williams of Dublin.
This firm was founded by two brothers and was then joined by their father at a later stage. The postcard indicated above is dated 1908 and demonstrates the capability of the firm with the scale and diversity of the subject matter. Fish and birds were common, but more exotic animal preparations were also clearly undertaken as they are present in the image. We have made the assumption that the gentlemen pictured in the image is one of the Williams clan but which one, it is not possible to ascertain.
Williams cases varied in design from domes, to flat fronted cases to all glass constructions. The quality of the work however is superb. We have seen many examples of fish by Williams of Dublin and also more interesting birds such as a female Marsh Harrier and a Shovelor duck (which appears to be in eclipse plumage). This case in particular has an interesting background; we have assumed that the landscape is perhaps where the bird was shot. Another case depicting English waders was recently sold at auction and sadly the contents of this case were dismantled and sold separately, perhaps for greater financial gain.
The message on the postcard states that a Peregrine Falcon was shot in a field in Silo on the 4th of August 1904 and sent to Mr Williams on the 5th of August 1904. We have no image of the result mount nor indeed any confirmation as to whether this mount was created for the client, a Mr G.W.Wood.

Wonderful postcard depicting the description of the bird that was sent to Williams & Sons 1908.

Case of Waders in winter plumage by Williams & Sons
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African Elephant foot by Williams of Dublin
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European Pike by Williams of Dublin.
The fish mounts we have had the opportunity to view have nearly always been mounted in flat fronted cases and more typically originate solely from fish that have been obtained in Ireland. This could be from visiting sportsmen to the region, who upon acquiring a fish that pleased them, had it mounted locally. Another reason is that fish "fade" quickly and therefore would not have travelled as well as other specimens. It has also been reported that the last remaining brother / son of the taxidermy family moved from Ireland to Leicester and then finally to Norfolk where he continued, following his retirement from Leicester museum in 1969, until his death in 1977.
This ended almost 125 years of contribution to the art of taxidermy. It is interesting to note that although this firm in one form or another produced work for such a long period that very few items come onto the market for sale today. Should anyone have any further information and or indeed images to increase the knowledge of this firm then please contact us as we would be delighted to receive them.

Female Marsh Harrier by Williams of Dublin.
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Victorian image of inside the Hunterian Museum.

Wonderful restored Gannets, by unknown Victorian Taxidermist.

Freak Kitten by Walter Potter of Bramber in West Sussex. Victorian mount, please refer to the page dedicated to Walter Potters work on this site.

Wonderful image from historic Smithsonian exhibition of Whales and Dolphins.

Kestrel and Sparrowhawk by Lowne of Great Yarmouth. Victorian case. Walter Lowne, active from the 1870s until 1913, had a taxidermy shop on Fuller's Hill in Great Yarmouth. On January 1st 1902 an exhausted rail, cinnamon in colour and about the size of a Moorhen Gallinula chloropus landed on a small fishing boat off the Suffolk coast at Hopton-on-Sea. It was taken to nearby Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, where it was taken in by a local taxidermist, Mr Walter Lowne, and kept alive for two days. It is not clear if the bird then died of natural causes or was killed to be stuffed. The bird was identified with the aid of books and skins lent by a Professor Newton, in particular it was the plate in Dresser's Birds of Europe which apparently clinched the identification
Thomas Hall

An original image of Thomas Hall.Image also depicts a Toucan
This is an email recieved from Australia. Many thanks. They also kindly provided the etching of Thomas Hall, as pictured above. As descendants of Thomas Hall of City Road we have a particular interest in the items mentioned on your gallery page 3. You note on both items these are circa 1890. This is unlikely as the last bearer of this name who continued the business of bird stuffer, died in about 1860. As far as we have been able to establish, his son, also Thomas did not continue with the trade. You are probably aware, that the most well known T. Hall of Finsbury issued tokens in 1795 for his busines in City Road, so it is most unlikely that he was still working a hundred years later :-) We would be most interested to know if you have any history of the items currently in your possession. Sincerely Ed McKie. We have not see too many examples of the work by this taxidermist. We do own a pair of Ruffs and once a Shovelor duck, but the taxidermy is not great, but that said the preservation is better than some of the taxidermist who proceeded him. James Gardner by example tend to fall apart with moth infestation.

An original copper struck coin stating how Mr Hall felt about himself at the time. These coins were struck around 1795-1830. One of the earlist UK taxidermists. This coins depicts a Toucan

An original copper struck coin stating how Mr Hall felt about himself at the time. These coins were struck around 1795-1830. One of the earlist UK taxidermists. This coins depicts a Toucan

An original copper struck coin stating how Mr Hall felt about himself at the time. These coins were struck around 1795-1830. One of the earlist UK taxidermists.

An original copper struck coin stating how Mr Hall felt about himself at the time. These coins were struck around 1795-1830. One of the earlist UK taxidermists. This coins depicts a Rhino, Armadillo and Kangaroo

White Negress Copper Penny

1795 White Negress Penny
Copper penny token issued in 1795 by T. Hall for his Exhibition of Curiosities and Natural Phenomena situated on the City Road, London. Obverse - An African woman standing in a long dress, half right, 'Mrs NEWSHAM THE WHITE NEGRESS'. Reverse -'THE FIRST ARTIST IN EUROPE FOR PRESERVING BIRDS BEASTS Etc'. Edge - 'MANUFACTURED BY W. LUTWYCHE BIRMINGHAM'. Diesinker Dixon, manufacturer Lutwyche.
Thomas Hall of No. 10 City Road was a taxidermist, curiosity dealer and proprietor of an exhibition of stuffed birds and animals, curiosities and natural phenomena. He was the owner and exhibitor of the first Kangaroo ever to be brought to Europe which is an illustration of the importance and popularity of this establishment in Georgian London. However, in line with the values of the day, animals were not the only the exhibits at this museum and sadly deformed humans, dwarfs and Africans were also put on show as a curiosity and this penny token advertises one of them.
Amelia Newsham was probably an albino African and there are records of a 'white negro girl' being exhibited at the Bartholomew Fair in London at 'a penny a look', some several years before the date of this token.

1795 White Negress Penny
It is likely that Mrs. Newsham was that girl and in 1795 she was in the 'employ' of Thomas Hall. Contemporary accounts describe her as being the child of black Jamaican parents, she had African features but white skin and white hair - some four to six inches long with the Constancy and colour of sheep's wool.
Born a slave in Jamaica, she was sent as a gift from her owner to his son in London. Later she was sold on to two men who exhibited her across England. At this point she met and married an Englishman and from then on she continued to exhibit herself as the "White Negress", after she gained her freedom. She was still alive in 1824 for at that date the Cabinet of Curiosities magazine described her as 'Born in Kingston Jamaica, arrived in Britain as a young girl where she married an Englishman by the name of Newsham by whom she had six children and although white herself, they were all mullatoes'. She was still exhibiting at that time and would recite a poem to viewers regarding the amazing curiosity that she was.

The Salter Collection which is now the Oaklands Museum,Chelmsford Essex.

Peter Spicer of Leamington Spa

The firm of Peter Spicer and Sons was established in 1798 by Thomas Spicer, a saddler and harness maker Peter Spicer is regarded as one of the greatest British taxidermists. He ran a large taxidermy company in Leamington Spa during the late 19th century and early 20th century. His cased work is characterised by evocative painted backdrops and highly realistic bases made from papier-mache with dried vegetation, real pebbles etc. Peter Spicer set up in business as a taxidermist in 1860 at 4 Upper Parade, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, the son of John (1811-1866) the first Spicer taxidermist and with a shop in Jury Street, Warwick, and became one of the most famous firms. He was also a keen artist, particularly of dead game, exhibiting at the RBSA between 1879 and 1899. For more information follow the link below the Peter Spicer page on this site.

Peter Spicer

Egyptian Nightjar by Robert Duncan of Durham.

Jules Verreaux

Arab Courier Attacked by Lions is the most dynamic and best-known piece of taxidermy ever created by French naturalist and taxidermist Jules Verreaux. Verreaux designed this extraordinary exhibit for the Paris Exposition of 1867, where it was awarded a gold medal. His aim was to portray life in motion and to stir the emotions of viewers-an aim very different from that of other taxidermists of his time. Arab Courier features a now-extinct subspecies of lion, the Barbary lion, which was gradually eliminated from its North African realm by expanding human settlement in the Saharan and coastal regions of North Africa. The "Barbary" region of the Mediterranean coast between Egypt and the Atlantic Ocean was historically occupied by the "Berbers" in the second millennium B.C. After falling to the Arabs in the seventh century A.D. and a thousand years of Arab control, it was by the 19th century under European colonial influence, and included such states as Algeria, Tunisia, Tripoli and Morocco. France, as a leading colonial nation, dominated Algeria by mid-century. At the time of the Paris Exposition of 1867, it was a logical nation to interpret the natural history of the region to the scientific world and the general public. Verreaux fashioned the lions and the camel from metal frameworks wrapped with excelsior or straw, over which the animal skins were stretched. Although some or all of the original skulls and teeth were used, facial details were cast in plaster. The human figure was constructed of steel rods wrapped in horsehair or excelsior and covered with a knitted cotton fabric. The face and hands are painted plaster casts.
After its debut in Paris 1867, Arab Courier Attacked by Lions made its way to the United States. This Paris Exposition, like other 19th-century world's fairs in Paris and elsewhere, produced works of art and exhibit materials that were dispersed after the great exhibitions closed. In 1869, the American Museum of Natural History purchased the Arab Courier. Except for a brief hiatus in 1876, when it appeared at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, the exhibit remained at the American Museum until 1898. Arab Courier was the first animal group ever acquired by the American Museum. Arab Courier was wholly unlike other animal exhibits of its day, which were typically single specimens stiffly mounted and affixed to drab wooden pedestals, and displayed mechanically in rows. While the public lavished the exhibit with attention and praise, museum administrators and scientific staff at New York museum found this theatrical display ill-suited to an institution devoted to scientific pursuits. It was decided that the exhibit should be disposed of. The Carnegie Institute has often been credited with rescuing the exhibit, but in fact that honor belongs to American Museum of Natural History curator Joseph Asaph Allen. Allen realized its historical value as well as its enormous potential to attract and delight visitors, and he knew that Andrew Carnegie's new museum in Pittsburgh was in need of impressive new exhibits. After Carnegie Institute's purchase of the exhibit and a complicated shipping process, the exhibit arrived in Pittsburgh and required cleaning, repair, and renovation before reassembly.
Frederick Webster, of Carnegie Institute, was a graduate of Ward's Natural Science Establishment in Rochester, New York and was nationally recognized as an innovator in developing animal habitat groups for exhibition. He was ideally qualified to renovate the Arab Courier group. The camel required the most extensive work. Wood, wire and excelsior were added to the neck for additional support and the ears and eyes were repaired. He also remodeled the mouths and tongues of the camel and lions and cleaned and waxed their teeth. In addition, the hides, clothing, saddle and other paraphernalia were thoroughly cleaned. When the exhibit was reassembled it was encased in glass for the first time in its history, and it went on display at the Carnegie Museum in November of 1899. Designed over 100 years ago to be viewed from all sides, it was displayed that way until 1958, when the case was last opened for cleaning and a background was painted by museum artist Ottmar Von Fuehrer. The current Exhibits staff has dispensed with the background in order to display Arab Courier as designer Verreaux originally intended-visually unhindered by supports or other obstructions.

Heath Hen

Tympanuchus cupido cupido
The heath hen, a subspecies of the prairie chicken, was once found in the eastern United States. Before the American Revolution, it was common from Maine to Virginia. As the human population increased, the heath hen population decreased, largely due to hunting.
It was once considered quite tasty and was rather easy to kill. Prior to the American Revolution, the heath hen was found in the eastern United States from Maine to Virginia.Expanding human populations in colonies caused great reductions in heath hen populations. By the 1870s the only heath hens left, occupied a tiny island called Martha's Vineyard off the coast of Cape Cod in Massachusetts. By 1907 there were fewer than 100 heath hens left in the United States.
Efforts were made to save the remaining heath hens and a sanctuary was created for them on Martha's Vineyard, a small island off the coast of Massachusetts. By 1916 the population slowly increased to over 800 birds, but a large part of their breeding ground was destroyed by fire that year. This, along with an unusually harsh winter the following year and an increase in the goshawk population, reduced the heath hen population to 100 birds. By 1920 their numbers had doubled to 200 birds. In 1921 a disease carried by domestic chickens spread to the heath hen population and their number dropped to 100 birds. By 1927 there were only 13 heath hens left. The last heath hen died in 1932. Another documented North American extinction
Ole Worm

Ole Worm, a Danish Naturalist
Ole Worm was born in rhus, where he attended the city's grammar school, which was known for its humanist traditions. At the age of 13 he was sent to Germany to continue his education, first at the high school in Laneburg, and later in the Hanseatic town of Emmerich, where he had family. All of his subsequent university education In 1605 he commenced theological studies in Marburg, and later in Giessen, but after two years he decided to specialize in medicine. In the spring of 1607 he was studying in Strasbourg, and then later in Basel, where he studied under a physician who possessed an outstanding collection of natural history specimens, of which some had been inherited from the pre-eminent collector Conrad Gesner (1516-65). It was also here in Basel that Ole Worm became acquainted with that branch of medicine known as iatrochemistry, and first encountered the ideas of Theophrastus Paracelsus (1490-1541) - which were aimed at finding the chemical element that would cure all illnesses. From a botanist Worm learned the significance of collecting plants systematically, as well as the principle that direct observation is the basis of scientific advancement. In July 1613 Worm was recalled from England and appointed Professor of Latin at the University of Copenhagen. He lived and stayed in Copenhagen for the rest of his life. He was married in 1615 to a daughter of the senior Professor of Medicine, Thomas Fincke (1561-1656), becoming at the same time brother-in-law to his friend Caspar Bartholin. Worm was later to become Professor of Greek, Physics, and finally in 1624 received a chair in his original subject, medicine. Added to this, Worm served as Rector of the University several times, the first time being in 1627 and the last in 1654.

Museum Wormianum Ole Worm commenced his systematic collecting activities in 1621 when he took over the chair of Physics and introduced instruction by the study of objects at the university. For the rest of his life he continually added to his collection, which is described in 'Museum Wormianum', published in 1655 after his death. Frederik III purchased the collection and it subsequently entered the Royal Kunstkammer. As well as being a professor, a writer and a collector, Ole Worm served throughout all the many years as a doctor to all levels of society - from royalty to the most poverty-stricken in Copenhagen. He remained in the capital during several epidemics of plague in order to tend his patients. He died during one such epidemic in the summer of 1654 - of a bladder disease.

Perhaps the oldest example of British taxidermy. An African Grey Parrot owned by the Dutchess of Richmond. This bird still resides in Westminster Abbey, London. The date on the picture is 1702, which means the bird was preserved before that date.

Wonderfully preserved Chimpanzee, perhaps by Rowland Ward.

Wonderfully preserved Chimpanzee, perhaps by Rowland Ward.
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Wonderfully preserved articulated Dodo skeleton.

Wonderful preserved plate demonstrating the disection process, very little has changed over the years. This is a Victorian plate from an old book.
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Wonderful preserved Kingfishers and Wood Sandpiper by Franklin. Very old and rare case.

'The Trial Of A Rat For The Murder Of A Chick'
A very good example of early 20th century Victorian taxidermy, depicting an anthropomorphic courtroom scene, to include: a rat; field mouse; barn owl; tawny owl; ferret; cockerels; sparrow hawk; magpie; shrew; mole; vole; hedgehog; and others. This case whilst in the style of perhaps Water Potter was in fact created by 'W. Hart, Bird & Animal Preserver, Christchurch, Hants', much of his work center around specimens gathered in Sussex and Hampshire. Therefore the Potter influence should be no surprise given the original location of the Potter collection. This piece however waas created Lord Stuart de Rothesay. When Country Life visited Highcliffe they found this "grotesque masterpiece" against a wall in the conservatory. The rather macabre display was illustrated by Country Life when writing about the castle on 8th May 1942. In its day it formed part of a large collection of works of art belonging to the Stuart-Wortley family at Highcliffe. It is understood that the work is coming up for auction in 2008. . This is a postcard picture of that case.