# Specimen Spotlight - The Farlow "Thousand-Dollar Specimens" May 01, 2026 James Mitchell, Research Assistant, Pfister Lab Swedish zoologist and ethnographer Eric Georg Mjöberg, seeking sources of funding for a 1925 expedition to Borneo, approached the Farlow Herbarium for a grant in return for all specimens of cryptogams (spore-producing "plants"; this outdated category includes true plants such as ferns, lycopods, mosses, liverworts, hornworts and green algae, but also non-plant organisms such as fungi, lichens, other algae, slime molds, water molds etc.) that were collected on the expedition1,2. He was given $1000 (equivalent to roughly $18,000 in 2026)3. In return for this funding, Mjöberg collected only about a dozen specimens, including four liverworts, two fungi, and about half a dozen mosses. He had evidently spent most of the expedition doing research for a book4, a copy of which the Farlow library still had to purchase 5. This scant handful of specimens were given the name "The Thousand-Dollar Specimens" due to their high individual cost. The bryophytes were identified by Edward Bunting Bartram6, the liverworts by Alexander William Evans7, and the fungi by Julian Howell Miller8. While a rather short list, the specimens included two which Bartram described as new taxa: *Dicranoloma euryloma* var. *rugifolium* and *Cryphaea borneensis.* While these specimens were clearly not worth the price paid for them, they still highlight the value of even sparse collecting in the world of taxonomy. Sort ![specimen sheet with Cryphaea_borneensis, labels, ruler, annotations](/sites/g/files/omnuum6796/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/2026-05/Cryphaea_borneensis%20-%20James%20Mitchell.jpg?itok=lj4z6GRt) *Cryphaea borneensis* ![Hypoxylon_truncatum specimen and label](/sites/g/files/omnuum6796/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/2026-05/Hypoxylon_truncatum%20-%20James%20Mitchell.jpg?itok=nYto-gkJ) *Hypoxylon truncatum* ![Lepidozia_borneensis specimen and label](/sites/g/files/omnuum6796/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/2026-05/Lepidozia_borneensis%20-%20James%20Mitchell.jpg?itok=Ce_fNFoj) *Lepidozia borneensis* 1. Riddle, Gertrude Hollister. Letter to Julian Howell Miller. 6 October 1936. Box 1, Folder 45. Farlow Herbarium Archives - Correspondence Circa 1931-1934, Miller, J.H.: 1936. 2. Riddle, Gertrude Hollister. Letter to Hempstead Castle. 19 July "1925" \[1934\]. Folder 17. Lincoln Ware Riddle and Gertrude Hollister Riddle Papers Series II. Misc. correspondence to Mrs. Riddle, 1934-1935. 3. [https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation\_calculator.htm](https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm) 4. Mjöberg, E. 1927. Borneo, Huvudjägarnas Land. Stockholm: Albert Bonniers Förlag. 514 pp. 5. 6. Bartram, E.B. 1936. Bornean Mosses, principally from Mount Kinabalu. The Philippine Journal of Science 61(2): 235-252. 7. Evans, Alexander William. Letter to Gertrude Hollister Riddle. 6 August 1934. Box 1, Folder 16. Farlow Herbarium Archives - Correspondence Circa 1931-1934, Evans, A.W. 8. Miller, Julian Howell. Letter to Gertrude Hollister Riddle. 21 December 1936. Box 1, Folder 45. Farlow Herbarium Archives - Correspondence Circa 1931-1934, Miller, J.H.: 1936. Share on:- [ Facebook ](#) - [ Twitter ](#) - [ Linkedin ](#)