Two Rare Mid 20thC Cases of Preserved Taxidermy Bats

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Origin: English
Period: Mid Twentieth Century
Provenance: Unknown
Date: c.1940-60
The Larger Case: Depth: 8 inches, Width: 10.5 inches, Height: 10 inches
The Smaller Case: Depth: 8.5 inches, Width: 8.5 inches, Height: 10 inches

Encased in perspex museum cases with carrying handles, one bat spread-eagled on a tile mount, the other perched jovially on bark.

The bats, and the naturalistic settings they reside in, are in superb condition whilst the cases remain in good general order, though with one or two scratches to the perspex and one small area of loss. Each case stands on rubber feet and has its own carrying handle. One of the cases has a museum standard label to the interior explaining the life and habitat of the pipistrelle bat. We have been informed that the chap with the lighter ears is a Natterer's (Myotis nattererii) bat and the one with the dark ears may be a Whiskered (Myotis mystacinus) or indeed a pipistrelle.

Beatrice and Benedict were the bats to be seen with about town, heroes in love, life and laughter. The couple renewed their vows every year and it was safe to say that they were a couple very much in love. Beatrice may have been a beautiful supermodel, but she claimed in 1945 that she and her sporty husband were just your average, every day couple, telling friends all about their “normal-ness.”…“I mean we’re a normal couple too,” she shared. “We eat and exercise just like everybody else. Benedict ate three thousand insects last night!”

And so it is that we find these tiny love-birds, or bats, now preserved in the afterlife; a truly rare example of preserved celebrity Pipistrellus pipistrellus taxidermy.

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