Skeletons of ancient birds, along with a host of other rare fossils, are among the items that made the recent, arduous journey in a giant container from Europe to Voila! Gallery in Los Angeles. Owner Katrien Van Der Schuren unpacked the bony birds and fossils just in time for the recent announcement of yet another missing link. A new 47 million year old primate fossil, nicknamed Ida, was unveiled to the world in late May and it made waves in both the scientific and non-scientific world. The discovery was presented with much fanfare at a press conference at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, where researchers called the finding “a missing link.” Not everyone is so excited and optimistic about the discovery. Some paleoanthropologists claim it will tell us little about human evolution, but it will shed some light on early primate evolution. One scientist claimed “It’s not a missing link. It’s not even a terribly close relative to monkeys, apes and humans, which is the point they’re trying to make.” ”This fossil have been hailed as the eighth wonder of the world,” said Chris Beard, a curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History on Pittsburgh. “Frankly, I’ve got 10 more in my basement.” Despite the Barnum & Bailey aspects of the reveal, it is still an impressive discovery. The small body represents a roughly 9-month-old female that probably looked a lot like the modern lemur. Its preservation was exceptional; about 95 percent of its bones are intact, and even some fur imprints and stomach contents are visible. Fossils are only one of the genres brought by ship over to Voila. The Gallery also has polished aluminum industrial era chairs, giant cathedral clocks, flying machines, and creepy mannequins. Voila is located at 518 North La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles. Call (323) 954-0418 for more information.
Category Archives: Paileontology
Early litho lunch box
Ralph Persinger helped facilitate the wave of robots that stormed the All-American Show in January. Although it was only lithographed on the front of a lunchbox, the giant robot facing off with Superman graces an important early box.”It is one of the first full litho lunchboxes,” said Persinger, who hoped the box would preserve $1,000. The original 1954 lunchbox in excellent condition shows a hovering Superman with extended fist approaching a towering gold robot. There is fire at their feet, combat planes and a skyline in the background. Persinger, who owns Burbank Antiques on Magnolia Avenue, authored a newsletter called, “The Paileontologist” in the early 1990s. He published about eight issues of the paper dedicated to lunch box enthusiasts like himself. How Metal Lunchboxes Were Manufactured Factories took large, flat rolls of steel and cut them down to the appropriate size. The sheets were then run under print rollers in a process known as lithography using CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black) which is the standard four-color printing process that is used today. In the
