A plaster celebrity, not the original bones

Dippy is the name the Natural History Museum gave its Diplodocus cast. The original skeleton is in Pittsburgh.

Dippy is a plaster-of-Paris replica of a Diplodocus carnegii, whose original skeleton is at the Carnegie Museum. [NHM Dippy] In 1905, the directory notes, Andrew Carnegie donated a cast of a Diplodocus skeleton to the Natural History Museum, based on the original specimen in the Carnegie Museum. [NHM Directory] The London cast was unveiled for the first time on 12 May 1905. [NHM Dippy]

A black-and-white 1905 photograph of a crowded museum gallery, looking along the tail of a Diplodocus cast toward a speaker and an audience in Edwardian dress — The presentation of the first Diplodocus replica to the trustees of the Natural History Museum, London, on 12 May 1905, with Lord Avebury speaking. The photograph looks along the tail and hips of the newly unveiled cast.Unknown photographer · Public Domain

The 292-bone skeleton arrived in London in 36 packing cases and was unveiled on Friday 12 May 1905. [NHM] Dippy is one of 10 replicas of the original D. carnegii in museums around the world, including Paris, Berlin, Vienna, and Moscow. [NHM]

The 1905 photograph looks along the tail toward Lord Avebury, speaking at the unveiling. It is a record of that day, not a modern gallery shot.

In 1979, Dippy moved to Hintze Hall, remaining there until 2017. [NHM] Dippy’s last day on show in London was 4 January 2017. [NHM] Following research in the 1960s, the neck was raised to a horizontal position, and in 1993 the tail was repositioned to curve over visitors’ heads. [NHM]

A low-angle view of a Diplodocus neck and skull reaching up toward an ornate museum ceiling with circular plaster panels and a vine pattern — Dippy the Diplodocus, photographed at the Natural History Museum, London, on 13 May 2026. The file is titled with that name; the photograph is not a record of Dippy’s earlier years in Hintze Hall, which ended on 4 January 2017.APK · CC BY 4.0

The 2026 photograph shows Dippy at the Natural History Museum, London. It is not a picture of the Hintze Hall years that ended on 4 January 2017.

A close-up of a long, low dinosaur skull and neck vertebrae in front of arched museum windows and a gilded column — The head and neck of the Diplodocus carnegii cast in the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, photographed by Dosseman on 28 September 2021. The Commons file is titled as that skeleton. The file’s description quotes a Brachiosaurus hall notice and does not describe this photograph; the long, low skull in the picture is a diplodocid, not Brachiosaurus.Dosseman · CC BY-SA 4.0

The new species was named Diplodocus carnegii in honour of Andrew Carnegie. [NHM]

Berlin has one of the ten replicas. The close-up above is the head and neck of that cast, photographed in 2021.

A plaster celebrity, not the original bones

Sources on this page