Early Crystal Models

Paris, 1785.
Collection of 395 small (ca 3 cm) terra cotta models. The models were bought in Paris in 1785 by Martinus van Marum, the first director of the Teylers Museum in Haarlem, the Netherlands. The complete collection still resides in the museum.
The models were made by Romé de L’Isle’s coworkers Arnould Carangeot, Lhermina and Swebach-Desfontaines in order to stimulate the sales of the expensive 4 volume set of his book "Cristallographie" (1783).

Paris, 1802 - 1804.
Collection of pear wood models (sizes between ca 2.5 and 10 cm). Each model is labeled mentioning the name of the crystal form. Between 1802 and 1804, Martinus van Marum, the first director of the Teylers Museum in Haarlem, the Netherlands, bought 597 of these pear wood models. Today 565 of these are still present in the museum, making this set the most complete collection of Haüy crystal models that still survives.
René Just Haüy introduced wooden crystal models to illustrate the two-dimensional drawings in the atlas volume of his "Traité de Minéralogie" (1801).

France, early 19th century (height 5.5 cm).
The model represents Haüy's theory of how the dodecahedron with pentagonal faces (pyritohedron) is constructed from a cubic nucleus by decrement of two rows of "integrant cubic molecules" of each newly added layer on two opposite edges combined with a decrement of only one row of molecules on every two successive layers on the other two edges. This combination takes place in three perpendicular directions.
The model whose edges show 17 cubic "molecules" fits exactly the illustration in the atlas of Haüy's "Traité De Minéralogie" (1801).

France, early 19th century (height 7 cm).
The model illustrates a complex differential decrement of cubic "molecules" on the edges AND on the vertices. It results from a combination of Haüy's laws giving the octahedron starting from the cube combined with that giving the pyritohedron and exemplifies crystal forms of pyrite ("sulfure de fer icosaèdre" of Haüy).
Haüy R.J. Annales de Chimie, 17, 225-319 (1793).

mid 19th century (ca. 1855)
Plaster models in a wooden box. The wooden box (39 x 29 x 8 cm) contains two trays; one with models illustrating the combination of forms and one with models of twinned crystals. The models are numbered and some of their faces bear Naumann symbols. The numbers relate to a booklet describing the forms present on each model. The accompanying booklet indicates that the models were made by L. v. Rössler and refers to the crystal systems of Mohs and Naumann.

Wooden crystal models (ca. 3.5 to 5.5 cm) from the P. Groth & F. Krantz collection (1880)
6 silver- and/or gold-containing minerals. From left to right:
top row: stephanite (392), krennerite (394), hessite (47)
bottom row: sylvanite (533), proustite (215) and freislebenite (539).

Glass model of a monoclinic crystal (ca. 20 cm) from a series.
A small glued label indicates: "I | Dr. F. Krantz | Bonn a. Rh."
Internal silk threads materialize the crystallographic axes and illustrate with the corresponding colours the dispersion of the optic axes and of the acute bisectrix for blue, yellow and red light.

Large (16,5 cm high) hollow wooden model of an hexoctahedron {321} stamped "7" from a series of 30. Large models of this type (15-25 cm) were furnished for demonstration purposes. Two slightly different sets are described in the second and third editions of Krantz’s catalogue n° 18. First half 20th century.

5 rotatable wooden models of twin crystals (ca. 5.5 to 7.5 cm) from the P. Groth & F. Krantz collection (1880)
From left to right:
top row: gypsum (564), lazulite (589)
center: trydymite (711)
bottom row: titanite (702), calcite (307)

Large (10-15 cm) hollow wooden crystal models from an undetermined series stamped "O. LIBOTTE | A LIEGE". Each model bears the stamped serial number 137 and an individual number.

Collection of 24 cream colored biscuit porcelain crystal models (size ranging from 3 to 10 cm) in contemporary (but probably not original) mahogany case. Each has faces stamped P, M and T and most models are identified in manuscript on paper labels.
The models are not signed, but the material they are made of and the stamped letters P, M, T are typical for models made by John Joseph Griffin (ca. 1841)

24 colored glass crystal models (size ranging from 1.5 to 5 cm) in chamois-leather and plush lined leather covered case (36.5 x 22.2 x 5 cm).
Unsigned, first half 20th century.

20 colored glass crystal models (size ranging from 1.5 to 3.1 cm) in chamois-leather lined, plush soft fabric covered inner lid. Faux leather case (21.5 x 15.5 x 3.2 cm).
Unsigned, likely Czechoslovakia, late 19th early 20th century.

Glass models of a hexagonal and tetragonal crystal from a series. The height of the hexagonal prism is 14.8 cm, the height of the tetragonal bipyramid is 20.2 cm.
Internal silk threads materialize the crystallographic axes; red for the c-axis, yellow for the other axes.
On the tetragonal crystal model a small glued label indicates: "16 | Dr. F. Krantz | Bonn a. Rh." On the hexagonal crystal there is a similar label indicating: "10 | Dr. F. Krantz | Bonn a. Rh.", and another gilded label with the Krantz logo and the text "Dr. F. Krantz | Bonn am Rhein".
Both models, first half 20th century.

Cardboard model (25 x 10 cm) of a tourmaline crystal from a series of 60. These models were offered varnished to prevent damage.
A small glued label indicates: "25 | Dr. F. Krantz | Bonn a. Rh.", first half 20th century.

Unsigned set of 14 black models with white edges. Dimensions of the models are given below each photograph
First half 20th century.

58 transparent light orange casts of crystal models. Dimensions between 3 and 7 cm. Some of the models were numbered which allowed them to be identified as casts of a set of Krantz wooden crystal models. First half 20th century.

Glass cube, edge 66 mm. Inside the cube, 9 cubic crystal forms delineated by colored wires are present; three 6-faced, five 24-faced and one 48-faced models. The model comes in a red plush lined mahogany case.
The maker is unknown.

Collection of 36 maple and fruit wood crystal- and geometric models (size ranging from 3 to 4 cm) in paper covered wooden case (22.5 x 19 x 6 cm). The sliding lid of the case is covered with a colored lithograph depicting a teacher with two students studying a collection of crystal models. Text on the lithograph "Krijstallographie. | Crystallographie, Crystallography". The box also contains a paper (41.7 x 33.8 cm, folded twice to fit in the case) with 8 unfoldings to make paper crystal models.
Ca. 1860.

18 rotatable wooden models of twinned feldspar crystals (all ~2.7 x 2.2 cm) with face symbols in brown ink  in a grayish paper covered cardboard box (19.5 x 10.1 x 1.6 cm).
G.E. Kayser, Berlin, 1834.
On the occasion of his inauguration in 1834, Gustaf Eduard Kayser (1803-?) presented this set of wooden crystals to Christian Samuel Weiss (1780-1856) who was professor at the University of Berlin.

15 wooden crystal models (average size 5 cm) in wooden case (34 x 25 x 6 cm). Each crystal model bears a number that corresponds to a printed list on the inside of the lid.
Unsigned, mid 20th century.

A collection of 135 (some duplicates) wooden crystal models - 6 with movable parts - used for teaching purposes during 20th century: 66 models are mounted on black painted wooden bases (47 with their original labels) while 69 models are unmounted; maximum height of the models including the base: 9 cm
82 loose wooden bases (most of them with a label) are also present. The back of two detached labels bears "K. K. Staatsgymnasium Wien I."
End 19th century.