Mounts - Phil Fraley Productions

NHMLAC-Thomas the T.rex | Project Info

NHMLAC-Thomas the T.rex

In 2008, PFP began work with the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHMLAC) to restore and remount various specimens in their Vertebrate Paleontology and Dinosaur Institute collections. One addition to the museum’s renovated halls is the Tyrannosaurus rex growth series, comprised of three specimens—including the teenaged T.rex known as Thomas. PFP staff not only mounted the specimen, they carefully reconstructed the skull from fragments to create a composite cast. These fragments are also mounted and displayed in relative position to each other to illustrate both the scientific and aesthetic processes that take a discovery in the field to the final, articulated specimen on display.

photo credit: © NHM / Ryan Miller / Capture Imaging

+
NHMLAC-T.rex Growth Series | Project Info

NHMLAC-T.rex Growth Series

Comprised of three specimens: a baby, a juvenile and a teenaged T. rex, the growth series enables NHMLAC museum visitors to easily ascertain the changes that occur to T. rex as it ages. PFP mounted all three specimens as part of the museum’s Dinosaur Hall renovation project.

photo credit: © NHM / Ryan Miller / Capture Imaging

+
NHMLAC-Plesiosaur with Embryo Plaque Mount

NHMLAC-Plesiosaur with Embryo Plaque Mount

+
NHMLAC-Triceratops | Project Info

NHMLAC-Triceratops

Working under scientific guidance, PFP spent approximately a year preparing and restoring the Triceratops skull and other material before creating this mount for the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. This unique specimen was recovered with a rare, articulated forearm. Photographic documentation and molding were completed on this specimen in order to explore its scientific significance prior to the start of mount making.

photo credit: © NHM / Ryan Miller / Capture Imaging

+
NHMLAC-Dinosaur Hall | Project Info

NHMLAC-Dinosaur Hall

photo credit: © NHM / Ryan Miller / Capture Imaging

+
NHMLAC-Fin Whale | Project Info

NHMLAC-Fin Whale

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHMLAC) originally acquired their impressive fin whale skeleton in 1928, and first mounted the specimen in 1944. Many years later, the fin whale’s skeletal material is still in the process of drying, and as such, has begun to crack. After an earlier disarticulation project in 2006, PFP began to restore and remount the fin whale in early 2008. The bone material was cleaned and consolidated. While the original armatures used the skeletal material as structural elements, the newly fabricated armatures feature strategically placed steel bands on the jaws. These bands will completely support the bone material and prevent cracking and separating from occurring in the future. The skull of the fin whale was mounted with its mandibles in the proper position‚ a first for any fin whale on exhibit. The fin whale was articulated in a fluid pose and features a handcrafted metal fluke.

photo credit: Shannon Cottrell

+
NHMLAC-Fin Whale | Project Info

NHMLAC-Fin Whale

photo credit: Shannon Cottrell

+
CMNH-Dueling T.rex Specimens | Project Info

CMNH-Dueling T.rex Specimens

The Carnegie Museum of Natural History (CMNH) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, boasts one of the most extensive and important collections of dinosaur fossils in the world. In Spring 2005, the museum began the process of transforming the century-old Dinosaur Hall into Dinosaurs in Their Time, a completely renovated exhibit, which doubles the size of the previous exhibition space. PFP worked collaboratively with CMNH to restore ten significant specimens and to remount them in dramatic poses that reflect current theories of paleontology.

The second phase, unveiled to the public in June 2008, features the museum’s holotype T. rex and the “Peck’s rex” squabbling over the carcass of a recently killed hadrosaur. This tableau finally realizes Henry Fairfield Osborn’s original 1913 plan for this holotype T. rex specimen, but takes into account current theories in paleontology.

photo credit: J. Franzos © Carnegie Museum of Natural History

+
CMNH-Diplodocus | Project Info

CMNH-Diplodocus

The Carnegie Museum of Natural History (CMNH) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, boasts one of the most extensive and important collections of dinosaur fossils in the world. In Spring 2005, the museum began the process of transforming the century-old Dinosaur Hall into Dinosaurs in Their Time, a completely renovated exhibit, which doubles the size of the previous exhibition space.

The museum’s holotype Diplodocus, affectionately known as “Dippy,” measures approximately 85 feet from its head to the tip of its tail. PFP restored the specimen prior to fabricating a new mount that poses the sauropod in a more accurate position.

photo credit: J. Franzos © Carnegie Museum of Natural History

+
CMNH-Stegosaurus | Project Info

CMNH-Stegosaurus

The Carnegie Museum of Natural History (CMNH) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, boasts one of the most extensive and important collections of dinosaur fossils in the world. In Spring 2005, the museum began the process of transforming the century-old Dinosaur Hall into Dinosaurs in Their Time, a completely renovated exhibit, which doubles the size of the previous exhibition space. PFP worked collaboratively with CMNH to restore ten significant specimens and to remount them in dramatic poses that reflect current theories of paleontology.

The museum’s Stegosaurus, or “covered lizard,” was originally mounted with its four tail spikes in a straight line. To reflect current theories of paleontology, PFP revised the spikes to a more paired articulation, as well as increased the number of sternal plates in the specimen’s cervical series.

photo credit: J. Franzos © Carnegie Museum of Natural History

+
CMNH-Allosaurus Flanked By Apatosaurus, Diplodocus and Museum Visitors | Project Info

CMNH-Allosaurus Flanked By Apatosaurus, Diplodocus and Museum Visitors

photo credit: J. Franzos © Carnegie Museum of Natural History

+
CMNH-Apatosaurus Protects Baby Apatosaurus from Allosaurus | Project Info

CMNH-Apatosaurus Protects Baby Apatosaurus from Allosaurus

photo credit: J. Franzos © Carnegie Museum of Natural History

+
CMNH-Camptosaurus | Project Info

CMNH-Camptosaurus

Originally a plaque mount, PFP working with CMNH prepared the Camptosaurus material so that it could be displayed three dimensionally. The compression was a challenge, however the mount now appears as if it was an undistorted specimen, complete with rare ossified tendons along the spine.

photo credit: J. Franzos © Carnegie Museum of Natural History

+
Princeton-Allosaurus Restoration and Collection Mounts | Project Info

Princeton-Allosaurus Restoration and Collection Mounts

When Princeton University closed their geology museum at Guyot Hall in preparation for a major renovation project, PFP was asked to safely move the museum’s vast collection either to storage, or to display elsewhere on campus. The university’s collection includes hundreds of specimens, such as the fossil remains of an Allosaurus and the skeleton of an Irish elk. To create a complete inventory of the museum’s contents, PFP labeled and catalogued the entire collection prior to cleaning, mounting or packing specimens for storage. The skeleton of a Bengal tiger, the Princeton University mascot, was moved to a new permanent home in the Frist Campus Center Building, where it was displayed alongside a skeleton of its much older ancestor, a saber-toothed cat.

+
The Field Museum-Tyrannosaurus Sue Fossil Mount | Project Info

The Field Museum-Tyrannosaurus Sue Fossil Mount

Weighing over 3,500 pounds and measuring 42 feet from head to tail, Sue is the largest, best-preserved and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex fossil yet discovered.

The Field Museum in Chicago chose PFP to build the armature for the genuine fossil material. Our team of artists worked closely with the scientists, exhibit staff, preparators, curators and administration at the Field Museum throughout the design, fabrication and installation processes.

photo credit: J. Weinstein © Chicago Tribune

+
SMP-Marshalls Creek Mastodont | Project Info

SMP-Marshalls Creek Mastodont

Named for the small community in Eastern Pennsylvania where it was discovered in 1968, the Marshalls Creek Mastodont specimen is nearly complete‚ an impressive find when compared to the isolated teeth and tusk fragments that comprised previous discoveries found across the state of Pennsylvania. The State Museum originally displayed the Marshalls Creek Mastodont as a plaque mount in 1970.

In 2008, PFP was contracted to restore the specimen and to articulate it in a more dynamic, freestanding position. Restoration and conservation work was performed on the specimen using the most up-to-date techniques. Bones that were placed in storage when the specimen was in the plaque mount are once again on display. The mount design implies the massive weight and lumbering motion of this proboscidean. A handcrafted base with coordinating metal handrails was fabricated for the mastodont, as well.

photo credit: D. Giles © The State Museum of Pennsylvania

+
Tyrannosaurus Samson Fossil Mount | Project Info

Tyrannosaurus Samson Fossil Mount

Samson, a Tyrannosaurus rex named in recognition of the beast’s reputation as the strongest dinosaur of the late Cretaceous period, was discovered in South Dakota in 1992. PFP was involved with many stages of Samson’s preparation. From packing and shipping the fossilized remains, to freeing the fossil from its plaster field jackets, to fabricating the armatures used to hold Samson’s bones in a dramatic pose, PFP ensured that the impressive specimen was treated with care and prepared for display.

photo credit: C. Cutler © Craig Cutler Studio

+
Tyrannosaurus Samson Skull Mount | Project Info

Tyrannosaurus Samson Skull Mount

Samson’s remarkably well-preserved skull, which appears to be both complete and undistorted despite 65 million years of geological movement, is a significant contribution to the world of paleontology. Serving as a link between Samson’s private owner and the scientific community, PFP introduced Samson’s owner to the staff of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, thus enabling the museum’s PaleoLab staff to access and study the specimen. Samson’s 1,500 pound skull was also carefully crated and shipped to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, in Huntsville, Alabama, so it could be examined using an industrial CT scanner. The CT scans were compiled to create virtual 3D images of the interior of Samson’s skull, thereby providing the scientific community with additional information on the anatomy and physiology of T.rex.

+
Gray Fossil Site-Miocene Mammal Mounts | Project Info

Gray Fossil Site-Miocene Mammal Mounts

The Gray Fossil Site, located near Johnson City, Tennessee, is one of the richest depositories of Late Miocene fossils in North America. PFP worked with East Tennessee State University (ETSU) to create a new visitor center located at the dig site. PFP provided mounts of both genuine and cast specimens of representative animals unearthed by ETSU staff, students and volunteers, including American Rhino (Teleoceras), Tapirs, American Alligator, and a type of large saber-toothed cat (Machairodus). In addition, PFP collaborated with ETSU to provide a three-day seminar on the preparation, restoration and conservation of fossils, as well as information on materials and techniques used in molding and casting fossil specimens.

photo credit: ETSU Photo Lab © East Tennessee State University

+
Gray Fossil Site-Cast Alligator, Rhino & Tapir | Project Info

Gray Fossil Site-Cast Alligator, Rhino & Tapir

The Gray Fossil Site, located near Johnson City, Tennessee, is one of the richest depositories of Late Miocene fossils in North America. PFP worked with East Tennessee State University (ETSU) to create a new visitor center located at the dig site. PFP provided mounts of both genuine and cast specimens of representative animals unearthed by ETSU staff, students and volunteers, including American Rhino (Teleoceras), Tapirs, American Alligator, and a type of large saber-toothed cat (Machairodus). In addition, PFP collaborated with ETSU to provide a three-day seminar on the preparation, restoration and conservation of fossils, as well as information on materials and techniques used in molding and casting fossil specimens.

photo credit: ETSU Photo Lab © East Tennessee State University

+
AMNH-Fossil Halls Renovation | Project Info

AMNH-Fossil Halls Renovation

In 1990, the AMNH recruited Phil Fraley as the Coordinator of Mounting and Specimen Restoration. He assembled and trained a group of sculptors who would first dismantle, crate and move many of the specimens out of the exhibit halls, then work to fabricate new and revised mounts for the museum’s six new Fossil Halls.

Before beginning the project, Phil and his team researched historical fossil mounts. This led to the development of their own unique, handcrafted mount style, which utilized traditional blacksmithing and metal crafting techniques. This innovative mount design protects and supports the valuable fossil material. Drilling or other types of fasteners are not required. These mounts are less obvious and distracting. They allow articulation of the specimen in a fluid and dynamic pose. In addition to updating the armature design, Phil and his team rearticulated the specimens in new poses that reflect current theories in paleontology.

photo credit: photo credit: D. Finnin/C. Chesek © AMNH

+
SoFo-Mammal Skull Mounts | Project Info

SoFo-Mammal Skull Mounts

The South Fork Natural History Society (SoFo) wanted a hands-on museum that captured the wonder and excitement of in-the-field discoveries. PFP crafted site-specific exhibits that brought the local Long Island ecology inside. These mounts cradle assorted mammal skulls representative of those that can be found nearby the museum.

photo credit: S. Berman © Evidence Design

+
Montauk-Artifact Mounts | Project Info

Montauk-Artifact Mounts

The Montauk Historical Society contracted PFP to realize their plans for four new permanent galleries at the Montauk Point Lighthouse Museum, located at the far eastern tip of Long Island, New York. These galleries focus on the local history and pre-history of the Montauk community, and posed unique challenges since the museum is housed in a 200 year-old national landmark.

In addition to the artifact mounts, highlights include an interactive map that charts the historic last voyage of The Culloden, a doomed British Man-O-War, and a topographical relief map of Montauk Point. A miniature diorama of an archeological dig at a Native American habitation site utilizes the “Pepper’s Ghost” technique‚ when a visitor presses a button, a ghosted image of a Native American family is superimposed over the scene.

+
Montauk-Native American Artifacts | Project Info

Montauk-Native American Artifacts

The Montauk Historical Society contracted PFP to realize their plans for four new permanent galleries at the Montauk Point Lighthouse Museum, located at the far eastern tip of Long Island, New York. These galleries focus on the local history and pre-history of the Montauk community and feature custom cabinetry and mounts for the artifacts unearthed in the area.

+