ALL NEW! Billions of years of life, science, and history in the palm of your hand! Curated and handcrafted to inspire for generations.
* Please note: All Prices are USD ($) *
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Mini Museum Age of Dinosaurs Launches!
over 4 years ago
– Tue, Sep 24, 2019 at 11:14:46 PM
Hello, everyone!
I'm excited to announce the launch of our latest collection, a special Mini Museum called Age of Dinosaurs!
Mini Museum Age of Dinosaurs is a subject-matter focused collection, a deep dive into one of the most epic periods of time in the history of our planet: the Mesozoic Era!
As always, thank you all so very much for your support!
- Hans
MM4 Announcement! Mini Museum Fourth Edition Launching Monday, July 9th at 4PM ET (GMT-4)
almost 6 years ago
– Wed, Jun 27, 2018 at 11:15:19 PM
Hello, everyone!
Just a quick message to let you know that the Fourth Edition of the Mini Museum is finally ready!
We'll be launching right here on Kickstarter on Monday, July 9th at 4PM ET (GMT-4)!
Mini Museum 4 - Launching July 9th!
Advance Preview Coming Next Week
An advance preview of the Fourth Edition will be released early next week. The preview will include the list of specimens, rewards, pricing, and availability. No more hints till then, so keep an eye on your email!
We are so excited about this new collection! If you are following us on Facebook or Instagram, you know that we've been working hard to get everything ready for this new collection. We have so much to share!
As always, thank you all so much for your support of the Mini Museum!
Until next week!
- Hans
P.S. Need to convert Monday, July 9th 4PM ET (GMT-4) to your location? Below are a few times from cities/places around the world!
Mount Kīlauea, USA - Monday, July 9th 10AM
San Francisco, USA - Monday, July 9th 1PM
New York, USA - Monday, July 9th 4PM
London, United Kingdom - Monday, July 9th 9PM
Berlin, Germany - Monday, July 9th 10PM
Moscow, Russia - Monday, July 9th 11PM
Mount Everest, Nepal - Tuesday, July 10th 4AM
Tokyo, Japan - Tuesday, July 10th 5AM
Sydney, Australia - Tuesday, July 10th 6AM
McMurdo Station, Antarctica - Tuesday, July 10th 8AM
P.P.S These are not hints! :)
Add On Lottery Update, A Slice of Royal History, MM4 Coming Soon!
over 6 years ago
– Fri, Dec 01, 2017 at 09:50:39 PM
Hello, everyone!
I hope you are all doing well! We are certainly busy here at MMHQ!
For those of you waiting on new add-ons, I'm happy to announce that we should come very close to covering all of the requests. So far, we shipped more than half and we are working hard to get to the rest as quickly as items become available to ship.
If you haven't heard from us yet, it means that we haven't gotten to your number yet but don't worry we haven't forgotten! Thank you in advance for your patience and keep an eye on your email!
A Slice of Royal History - The Wedding Cake of Prince Charles and Princess Diana
Stages of Preparation for the Royal Wedding Cake Specimen
A word of thanks here to backer Daniel Leonard who suggested this specimen back in September. I didn't want to post it too close to the anniversary of Diana's passing, but the recent announcement of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's engagement seemed like a perfect moment to celebrate.
I'd love to hear which Third Edition specimen you'd like to explore next! Please leave a note in the comments!
MM4 Coming Soon!
I've mentioned in a few places that we are working on the Fourth Edition of the Mini Museum!
The MM4 lineup is nearly complete and we are planning to make an announcement after the first of the year. Of course, it wouldn't be fair to just put COMING SOON into an update and not share anything, so here is a sneak peek at four of the specimens we have in store next year!
MM4!
As always, thank you all so very much for your support. Now, it's back to work!
- Hans
P.S. MM4 guesses will be met with smiles!
Sold Out Add-On Update: Time to Sign Up! Plus New Add-On: SR-71 Blackbird Fragment!
over 6 years ago
– Mon, Nov 13, 2017 at 09:44:53 PM
Hello, everyone!
I know you've all been waiting for add-ons for some time now and I appreciate your patience.
The whole team has been working hard to find and prepare add-ons while also finishing specimen production for the Third Edition. We're still tracking down a pair of hard-to-find items, but most add-ons are ready to ship and the lottery process is ready to go.
I'm also very excited to announce a new add-on: the SR-71 Blackbird Fragment. You'll find the details on the SR-71 Blackbird Fragment below, but first I want to explain the whole process and let you know what else is in stock now.
It's also worth noting that this is not the secret project I mentioned in the last update. That is still in progress and hopefully I'll be able to make an announcement very soon!
The Add-On Lottery Process
The purpose of the lottery process is to give Third Edition Backers first priority while also providing a fair process for those of you around the world. Here's how it will work:
2. Please be sure to select ALL of the items you would like to purchase.
3. On Friday, November 17th, we'll close the form and shuffle the list.
4. We will set up orders in our shop and email individual backers.
* Please understand it will take us a few days to get everything together and notify interested backers. Thank you!
Add-On Q&A
"What if some of the items I want are not available to ship yet?"
You will have two options:
SHIP NOW: Purchase the items we have right now. We'll set up another order when additional items come in.
HOLD: Ask us to hold the entire order until everything is here at MMHQ and ready to ship.
Both of these options are on the form. We're giving these options because the holidays are coming up and we know that many of you might want to get what you can as soon as possible.
"What happens if you run out of an item before you get to me?"
We're going to keep this list in place until everything each backer wants is fulfilled. So, if we run out of an item before we get to you, we'll let you know and then we'll come back to you once we have that item ready to ship to you.
"Will you publish the final order of the list?"
No, I'm afraid not. Also, I'm only answering this because someone has already asked. :)
"What's available to ship now and what is coming later?"
The list of available add-ons appears below:
Megalodon Tooth
Fordite
Insect in Amber
Neanderthal Hand Axe Fragment
Mosasaur Tooth
SR-71 Blackbird Fragment (details below)
The following items are on their way to us, but I don't have a firm delivery time yet:
Spinosaurus Tooth
Neolithic Hand Axe
When dealing with rare items there can be a lot of uncertainty. Sometimes you are waiting on quantity, sometimes it's quality (and yes, sometimes it's both). I have been working on these two items in particular for a few months now. I have the quality I want, but now I'm waiting on quantity. Like I said above, I don't want these two items to hold things up for everything else so we're going to more forward. However, if you'd like either of these items we'll be happy to hold your order until they arrive or ship separately.
"What about the Samurai Sword Slice?"
I have very good news to report here: we will have more slices!
If you'll recall, we couldn't make a determination on the number of slices until we finished specimen production for the Third Edition. The main reason for this is because we opted not to use shattered slices for specimen production unless absolutely necessary.
The shattered slices are a natural result of using high-energy to cut through sections of the Samurai Sword that exhibited the micro-fragmentation which made the blade unsuitable for normal handling in the first place.
The shattered slices are incredibly sharp and fragile, and they are very difficult to polish. However, because there was such intense interest in getting full Samurai Sword slices, we decided to attempt using the shattered slices for use as specimens and save as many full slices for use as add-ons as possible.
Sampling of Polished Shattered Slices of Samurai Sword Before Becoming Specimens
I'm happy to say that after a long and heroic effort by Bill, Grant and Andrea, we've successfully managed to recover many of the shattered slices and turn them into beautiful, tiny swords. This means there will be more full slices available than I ever expected.
Samurai Sword Slice Add-On
The current estimate is that we'll have at least 100 additional full slices like the one pictured above. Production on the Samurai Sword Slices will begin right away, and we will offer the slices to backers on the list as they are completed. So, if you are interested please sign up. Like the Spinosaurus Tooth and Neolithic Hand Axe, we will hold your order or ship separately until your Samurai Sword Slice is ready to go.
NEW ADD ON: SR-71 Blackbird Fragment - $69
Finally, I'm excited to announce a new add-on I didn't think would be possible at all: the SR-71 Blackbird Fragment!
SR-71B Mach 3 trainer in flight at sunset. (Source: NASA Photo 1997)
If you read the project update about the SR-71 specimen ("Built for Speed") you know that preparing the titanium was a huge challenge.
Preparing Strips of SR-71 Titanium
As part of the process, we experimented with a variety of pieces from different SR-71s to find just the right specimen shape and method of preparation. Now that the SR-71 specimen production is finished, I'm happy to report that combining the test material with our remaining SR-71 fragments gives us enough material to create a new add-on!
SR-71 Blackbird Fragment ($69)
This specimen is 0.5 gram of SR-71 Titanium. The edge of the material is quite sharp, so the fragments are enclosed in a specimen jar which is placed within a glass-topped riker box case. The case measures 4 1/2" x 3 1/2". A small information card is also included.
SR-71 Blackbird Fragment Macro Image
This material comes from the overlapping flaps which surrounded the exhaust of the SR-71, also known as a "turkey feather". Opening and closing according to the pressure output of the afterburner, they are considered one of the hardest working parts of the aircraft. These particular fragments come from five (5) different SR-71s. The fragments include pieces of both the "angle" and the "rod" of the turkey feather illustrated below.
SR-71 Service Manual Illustrating the "Turkey Feather"
Please Note: With the rod being rather thick and the angle being thin, the size and shape of the fragments vary widely. Some specimens will have multiple, small pieces, while others may have a single, larger piece. Some pieces will also show scorch marks from early preparation of the material. The fragments have sharp edges, so again please use extreme caution when handling and never allow children to handle the specimens unattended.
Thank You!
I know this was a long update, so as always, thank you all so very much for your patience!
Also, in addition to our soon-to-be-announced secret project, I want to assure you all that we are hard at work on the Fourth Edition. The lineup is nearly complete and we've even started working on some of the specimens. I can't wait to share it with you!
Now, it's back to work!
- Hans
$900 Raised for the Donation Program! Built for Speed - The SR-71-Specimen... Plus: A New, Secret Project?!
over 6 years ago
– Tue, Sep 19, 2017 at 08:11:19 AM
Hello, everyone!
I'd like to begin by thanking everyone who purchased a Third Edition t-shirt or donated to our mini-campaign! In total, we raised $900 - all of which will go directly towards the Educational Donation Program! This will help us send even more Mini Museums to kids around the world! Thank you all so very, very much!!
Grant inspecting shirts here at MMHQ while Jamie does his best impression of 3X Backer Josh Fields.
Side Note: Backer Justin Owen posted a comment just a few days ago. I think we should all encourage him to share a picture too since this project was really born out of his request. What do you say, Justin?! :)
In the last update, I asked for votes on the next specimen to cover and the SR-71 was the winner!
So, I took a little extra time last week to go through all of my resources and several online videos before putting together the update. With all the videos and images, I thought I'd try something different and place all of the content (including the videos) on minimuseum.com.
Please let me know in the comments if you like this format or if you'd prefer to see all of the content here on the regular project update page by leaving a comment on this update. Thank you!
What would you like to explore next? The Royal Wedding Cake? Spinosaurus? The Great Oxygenation Event? A walk down the early 14th century streets of Venice? Please let me know in the comments!
A New, Secret Project?!
Those of you following us on Instagram (@hansfex) may have noticed this post near the end of August:
"Hmmm... I wonder what completely new thing is in here. �� #minimuseum #secret #andnowforsomethingcompletelydifferent"
Backer Andrew Hurwitz sure did and since he asked for more teasers of this secret project I thought I'd share here first!
The Amazing Jen and images from from our new secret project!
If all goes according to plan, I'll have more to share about this new project before the end of October. Until then, I'll just say that it is unlike anything we've done before and I can't wait to share it with all of you... Of course, if you can't wait and would like to guess in the comments I won't stop you!
As always, thank you all for your generous support of the Mini Museum! Now, it's back to work!
- Hans
P. S. For those of you waiting on additional add-ons, we have everything in hand except Spinosaurus teeth and the final count on Samurai Sword slices. The team has started inspecting and boxing these items. Once they are ready, we'll be in touch with more details!
