Steinhart Aquarium

We always enjoy looking back on the hobby seeing how we’ve progressed over the years, so when we came across this antique, bronzed seahorse design aquarium from the 1920s on Off the Wall Antiques we had to share it. This 20-gallon aquarium was made 1926 by the Jewel Aquarium Co. of Chicago. The tank is old school slate bottomed with some very ornate seahorses added to the design of the stand very reminiscent of the famous seahorse railing of San Francisco’s Steinhart Aquarium from the same time period. The tank is “supported” on the side with bronzed dolphins to keep the sea motif. This classic aquarium was sold for an unknown price but a less-than-stellar reproduction is selling for $8,500, so figure the original had to sell for at in the neighborhood of $15,000. The reproduction does a good job with the stand and base, but the aquarium itself is new and just looks like an off-the-shelf 20g spray painted bronze with what looks like some sort of common Oceanic light fixture. For the $8,500 we figured there would be some sort of ornate top to match the majestic stand.