In 1988, the Australian National Gallery in Canberra, exhibited a chair
fashioned from a whale's vertebra (117x123x72 cms) in a folk art
exhibition.
The chair was from the National Trust of Australia's Western Australian
branch. The curator of this exhibtion was John McPhee.

Michael Bogle
Hyde Park Barracks Museum
Queens Square
Sydney Australia 2000

>Dear Museum-Lers,
>
>We were sent from someone in the NE USA (Maine) a large bone definitely
>adapted as a hanging plant holder.  The vertebrate paleontologist
>identified it as a whale vertebra.  What we would like to know is:
>
>Is this a common adaptation of a whale bone? Or does this represent an
>unique occurence of an imaginative person?  Has anyone ever seen one
>before and/or do any museums have them in their collections?
>
>Thank you very much in advance.
>
>Julie Golden
>Curator of Paleontology
>Department of Geology
>University of Iowa
>Iowa City, IA  52242
>
>e-mail: [log in to unmask]
>tel: 319-335-1822