Seymour Sparklesaurus by Western Pa School for Blind Children

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The dinosaurs from the Carnegie Museum’s DinoMite Days were all adopted and moved to their new homes years ago. A handful remain scattered around the city in public places and those are the ones we’ve included in this website.

Bumps along Sparky’s upper body (both sides) are braille.

Seymour Sparklesaurus, AKA Sparky is something special. This dino was created by the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children and that’s where he now lives. What we noticed right away were two things: One, the plaque in front of Sparky is in braille and only in braille. Very appropriate and it made us think about all the signs out there that are not offered with a braille translation – the ones that the sighted can read but the blind cannot. The other thing we noticed was that Sparky has raised features. We see jewels and bumps that provide a tactile experience. Those bumps on his sides are actually braille and the translation is WPSBC, the acronym for the school.

Multicolored, round, glass jewels decorate the plates along Sparky’s back.

When we were reviewing the information on the DinoMite Days auction we also noticed that Sparky pulled in the most money at the auction: $17,500!