NHM TOP 100

01 ICELAND SPAR
Calcite. Iceland spar. Helgustadir, Iceland.19th century.
There are very few specimens of Iceland spar of this size and quality, even from the world’s best known source, the Helgustadir mine in Iceland.

02 SMOKY QUARTZ
Morion. Large crystal cave. Uri canton, Switzerland.1868.
With a circumference of 112 centimeters and weighing 115 kilograms, this crystal is one of the largest ever recovered from the cavern at Switzerland’s Tiefen Glacier.rom the cavern at Switzerland’s Tiefen Glacier.

03 FLOWERS OF IRON
Aragonite. Erzberg in Styria, Austria. 1875.
The “flowers of iron” from Erzberg in Styria are known the world over for their beauty and quality. Even there, specimens of this size are found only very seldom.

04 EPIDOTE
Epidote. 15 x 6 cm. Knappenwand, lower Sulzbach Valley in Salzburg, Austria. 1866.
Epidote crystals are rare and there are only a few occurrences of them world-wide. It was for this reason that Knappenwand in Salzburg attained world fame as a mineral deposit.

05 ROCK SALT
Halite. Wieliczka, Poland. 1900.
Rock salt crystals can attain a remarkable size. However, specimens weighing a thousand kilograms with cubes up to 30 centimeters long are an absolute rarity.

06 IMPERIAL TURQUOISE TALISMAN
Turquoise. 25 x 20 cm. Nishapur, Iran. 1915.
This instantly recognizable piece worked in magnificent turquoise was a gift to Emperor Franz Joseph I from a Persian turquoise cutter.

07 HABACH VALLEY EMERALD
Green beryl. 3.5 x 3 x 2 cm. Salzburg, Austria. 1874.
This emerald is one of the largest and finest specimens from the world-famous deposit in the Habach Valley.

08 PRECIOUS OPAL.
Opal.13 x 7 x 7 cm. Dubnik (Červenica), Slovakia. 1672.
At 594 grams, this precious opal is not only the largest from a European deposit, but also the most valuable gemstone in the Vienna collection.

09 OCTHAHEDRAL DIAMOND
Diamond. 2.5 x 2.5 x 1.5 cm. South Africa. 1898.
The largest diamond in the Vienna collection is remarkable not only for its 82.5 carats, but also for its purity and perfect octahedral shape.

10 PLATINUM NUGGET
Native platinum. 12 x 10 x 8 cm. Ural in Siberia, Russia.1859.
At 6.2 kilograms, the NHM’s platinum nugget is the world’s third heaviest. Only two nuggets in the Russian State Treasury in Moscow weigh more.

11 EMERALD HAND SPECIMEN
Emeralds. 17 x 16 cm. Colombia/Tyrol. 1596.
Exquisite emeralds from Colombia were artistically cemented together using cobbler’s wax to make a hand specimen – a rare treasure from the early days of collecting.

12 GEMSTONE BOUQUET
Height 50 cm. Frankfurt, Germany, and Vienna. Around 1760.
The baroque miniature gemstone collection – a gift from Maria Theresa to her husband – is unique both for the value of the stones and for their artistic workmanship.

13 PRINCE EUGENE'S SNUFFBOX
Lapis lazuli. Koksha Valley, Afghanistan. Before 1736.
This lapis lazuli snuffbox was made prior to 1736 and was owned by the celebrated Austrian general Prince Eugene of Savoy.

14 ASTRONOMICAL CLOCK AND ORRERY
Johann Georg Nestfell. Hesse, Germany. 1753.
The astronomical clock and orrery is a miracle of precision engineering, which combines ultimate craftsmanship with the state of knowledge in astronomy in the first half of the 18th century.

15 KNYAHINYA STONY METEORITE
Chondrite (L5). Knyahinya, Ukraine. 1866.
For a long time Knyahinya was the largest known stony meteorite. Fundamental research has been carried out on it regarding the radiation ages of meteorites.

16 NAKHLA MARTIAN METEORITE
SNC achondrite. Stony meteorite. Al Buhayrah, Egypt. 1911.
Of the circa 40,000 meteorites currently known, fewer than a hundred come from Mars. Nakhla is one of these extremely rare Martian meteorites.

17 HRASCHINA IRON METEORITE
Octahedrite. Hraschina, Croatia. Fell 1751.
Hraschina near Zagreb is one of the first scientifically investigated meteorites, and is the foundation of the Vienna meteorite collection, the oldest in the world.

18 CABIN CREEK IRON METEORITE
Medium octahedrite, IIIAB iron meteorite. Arkansas, USA. Fell 1886.
Cabin Creek is regarded as one of the most beautiful meteorites in the world, and is shown in many books on meteorites as the ideal example of an oriented meteorite.

19 PRIMEVAL RINGED WORM
Canadia spinosa. Burgess Pass, Canada. 505 million years.
The deposits at Burgess Pass give a unique picture of the ancient animal world. Primeval beings – including soft tissue – have been preserved here.

20 EXTINCT SEED PLANTS
Pterophyllum jaegeri. Bennettitales. Lunz, Lower Austria. 220 million years.
The fossil plants of Lunz are unique in their wealth, their diversity and their outstanding state of preservation.

21 PRIMITIVE BIRD
Confuciusornis sanctus. Liaoning, China. 125 million years.
The primitive bird Confuciusornis is one of the paleontological treasures. In this male, the long decorative feathers are unusually well preserved.

22 PRIMITIVE SNAKE
Pachyophis woodwardi. Bilek, Bosnia and Herzegovina. 100 million years.
One of the most primitive and oldest snakes in the world. This specimen was used for the first scientific description of the species Pachyophis woodwardi in 1923 (holotype).

23 GIANT AMMONITE
Parapuzosia seppenradensis. Gosau, Styria. 85 million years.
Parapuzosia seppenradensis is the largest species of ammonite ever to live. At just under a meter diameter, this specimen is the second largest ammonite in Austria.

24 GROUND BEETLE IN BALTIC AMBER
Carabidae. Kaliningrad, Russia. 50 million years.
Insects captured in amber, a fossil resin, are some of the most attractive examples of primeval life.

25 HOE TUSKER
Prodeinotherium bavaricum. Frantiskovy Lázne, Czech Republic. 16 million years.
Complete skeletons of large mammals, such as this Deinotherium (hoe tusker), are very rare and valuable. Mostly, only individual fossil bones are discovered in alluvial deposits.

26 FOSSIL OYSTER REEF
Crassostrea gryphoides (giant oyster) & Perna aquitanica (giant mussel). Stetten in Lower Austria. 16.5 million years. The largest oysters and mussels ever to live formed a mighty reef in today’s Korneuburg Basin. This was also the origin of the world’s largest fossil pearl.

27 SCORPION FISH
Scorpaena prior. St. Margarethen in Burgenland. 14 million years.
St. Margarethen is a world-class lagerstätte, but most of the scientific sensations from this site seem commonplace. The scorpion fish is an exception.

28 PRIMEVAL DWARF HORSES
Eurohippus messelensis. Messel, near Darmstadt, Germany. 47 million years.
The primeval horses from Messel are among the most important fossils, both because of their outstanding state of preservation and because of their key role in equine evolution.

29 DIPLODOCUS
Diplodocus carnegii. Wyoming, USA. Cast. 150 million years.
The Diplodocus skeleton is the biggest exhibit at NHM, and was one of the first almost complete skeletons of the large dinosaurs to be discovered.

30 GIANT MARINE TURTLE
Archelon ischyros. South Dakota, USA. 72 million years.
The world’s largest, most complete and heaviest turtle skeleton.

31 CAVE BEAR WITH CUB
Ursus spelaeus. Hartelsgraben near Hieflau, Styria. 35,000 years.
The only complete skeleton of a young cave bear.