This week I’ve decided to give you a mystery invertebrate from the collections of the Dead Zoo:
Now there are a variety of levels of identification for this object: species (obviously), materials, makers and if you really want to show off, you might even be able to provide a year and information about how much it cost at the time.
As always, I’d be delighted to see what you think and to hear about any similar specimens you might know about.
Have fun!
Zygoma 
Good grief! It is a capital mistake to theorise without data. Apart from the fact that is is left-handed, smokes a pipe instead of cheroots, is probably a painting of a nudibranch from the Victorian era, is in the prime of its life, and was once in love with a person called Mabel, who loved it back, I cannot really say much based on this clue alone.
I doubt if I’ll get to species level. Windy is about the best I can do, and I’m not absolutely certain of that. As for the material and maker… ulp.
It’s a glass model from the 19th century, right?
I won’t say the name of the artist(s), because I only found it it by googling “glass nudibranch” and I assume that’s cheating?
Perfectly valid starting point for research, there’s no such thing as cheating in this game!
All right, then, it’s Beccaria tricolor, a glass model by Leopold and Rudolf Baschka, according to this source : http://www.guidomocafico.com/work/leopold-rudolph-blaschka/blaschka-i/
No date, though.
And on this page that is so broken that I had to resort to the source code, it says that in 1878 “It was decided to order 85 models from the Blaschkas through their agent for Great Britain and Ireland , Robert Damon of Weymouth . The cost of the purchase was £15. Over the next ten years the Natural History Museum purchased 530 models from the Blaschkas.”
http://www.ucd.ie/blaschka/dublin_coll.htm
That’s all I was able to dig up regarding exact year and price of purchase. How much was a pund worth in 1878, I wonder?
Ireland used pounds sterling between 1826 and 1928, so the punt didn’t exist in 1878 (at least as legal tender).
Thank you for that clue, Watson. I can now confirm the name(s) of the perpetrator(s). You will, of course, recall The Reigate Puzzle, which you so kindly wrote about, in which the solution was somewhat similar.
We still have to figure out the date on which this outrage was perpetrated on the public weal, of course. But… you know my methods, apply them.
my waylaid cybersleuth friends,
are you so sure it’s not a yukon denzen dressed up for mardi gras??
hail king sourtoe!
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/sourtoe-cocktail
dressed in the finest of invertebrate color-changing wear…..
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Caliphylla mediterranea?
How beautiful! When I saw it, I immediately thought of a fountain I saw in Dubai – made of over three thousand pieces of hand blown glass and worth more than 10 million dollars! The artist is Chihuly, and this looks very much like his work. (I just read the above comments and see that the artists are Leopold and Rudolf Baschka!) Here is a link to the drawing for the sculpture: https://www.cmog.org/library/beccaria-tricolor-art-original
And here is a picture of the real animal! http://www.naturamalta.com/Caliphylla_mediterranea.html
🙂
Lovely Blaschka sea slug 🙂 Compared to live creature it is even more lovely. .. but that might be because they were selling them or just artistic licence