Lot No. 23: Auctioning natural heritage
A few weekends ago, I stumbled upon an interesting LA Times article about Samson, a 66-million year old Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton auctioned off at the Venetian in Las Vegas. At first, I thought this was another article about the failing Las Vegas economy, but as it turns out, Samson’s owner is an anonymous private owner who has been keeping the bones in storage for many years. The owner initially purchased the skeleton from commercial fossil collectors who had arranged a deal with the owner of the land in Harding, SD on which Samson was found. Bonhams & Butterfields, an LA based auction house, has the skeleton available.
From the auction catalogue:
The rare 66-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex known as “Samson” is one of the three most complete examples of its species to have been discovered. Excavated from a private ranch near Buffalo, South Dakota over 15 years ago “Samson” has journeyed to NASA for CAT scans of the skull, the Carnegie Museum for the preparation of the skull and to a New Jersey laboratory where she was professionally mounted for display.
In life, “Samson” measured approximately forty feet in length and could have looked into a second story window. Her massive skull and powerful serrated teeth could have bitten through the leg bone of any contemporary dinosaur. Most likely a very skilled hunter with binocular color vision and an extremely sensitive sense of smell, this colossus, like others adults of her species, lived as an apex predator of the Late Cretaceous Period.
The scientific preparation of “Samson’s” skull was completed by the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. “Samson’s” skull is regarded as one of the finest and most complete T. rex skulls in existence. The skeleton contains approximately 170 bones, more than 55% of the total bone count of an entire skeleton
Of further interest are pathologies (evidence of healed injury or disease) of the skull and portions of the skeleton which provide a time capsule for the study of life during the Late Cretaceous Period. In life, “Samson” was equal in weight to “Sue,” the T. rex skeleton currently displayed at the Field Museum in Chicago; her large size is one indication that “Samson” is a female, despite her male moniker. Her skeleton is beautifully prepared and mounted utilizing the most modern techniques, which allow for new discoveries and enhanced aesthetic qualities.”Samson’s” skull has been mounted separately from the skeleton on a custom steel base which also displays 22 teeth which were found apart from the skull.
Numerous related and ancillary materials, including associated flora and fauna from the excavation site, accompany the skeleton.
Both the LA Times article and the catalog description acknowledge the immense research value held in this specimen, a point that I likely don’t disagree with, but I think that The Onion captured the essence of the situation best in an American Voices update on October 6. The (fake) respondents answer to the question “A nearly complete skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex found in South Dakota was put up for auction at the Venetian casino in Las Vegas last weekend. What do you think?” illuminate the danger of ownership of this skeleton being transferred to another private collector, especially if that collector is actually someone making a rash decision because they’ve recently fallen into a better financial situation in Vegas (a concern also voiced by the auction curator in the LA Times article), and the absurdity of a dinosaur being for sale at the Venetian.
At auction, Samson failed to meet the reserve bid established prior to the auction, thus, not selling. The curator expressed dismay about the situation as he believed the specimen would be best suited in a museum and would hate to see it lost in a private collection for many years again. So, yesterday, the AP had some good news to report this week that Samson has been purchased by a private buyer who is in talks with several museums. Hopefully, all of the issues of loans, donations, et cetera, will work themselves out quickly so this specimen can be used for some public value.