Multimillion-dollar auctions brought dinosaur bones to the spotlight. Two spectacular flops and a record-breaking stegosaurus are shaking things up. Are skeletons an investment opportunity or should they be laid to rest? Who wouldn't want a ? You can scare the neighbors with one.
Or you can charge admission to see it. Plus, they are extremely rare and will only go up in value, right? But are fossilized bones really a good investment? Investing in ancient specimens is not for everyone and there are a few things to think about. One good thing is they are hard to steal.
A triceratops skull wouldn't fit in a burglar's backpack. This also means they are hard to move around, and you'll . The Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi surely had all this in mind when it bid $31.
8 million (€29.8 million) for the 67-million-year-old Stan the T. rex at a Christie's auction in 2020.
It was the most expensive fossil ever sold at auction up to that point and well above its $6-8 million estimate. The museum, which is set to open in 2025, has the resources to display the 37-foot-long (11 meters), 13-foot-tall male skeleton. Made up of 188 bones with additional cast elements, it was originally found in South Dakota in 1987.
Most of the 50-plus Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons discovered since 1902 are in natural history museums, which is not many when considering that around over a 2.4-million-year period. Buyers beware of dino-mania isn't the only place to get expensive bones.
, Drouot and Heritage Auct.
