If You've Ever Wanted to Own a Complete Dinosaur Skeleton, or Four, Now's Your Chance

By Robert Wilonsky Wed., Jun. 1 2011 at 10:10 AM

Heritage expects the Allosaurus and Stegosaurus skeletons will go for upwards of $3 million. But that's for the pair. A bargain.

I've taken the almost-8-year-old who lives in my house to several of 'cross-the-street neighbor Heritage Auction Galleries' dinosaur auction previews, because, right, kids love dinosaurs. Which is why I expect at some point, between June 9 and 11, we'll find ourselves once again wandering the fossils: It's time for the latest natural history auction. But this one's a whole different ball of petrified wax: For one, the sneak peek has moved to my boy's favorite spot in the city -- Fair Park, specifically the Tower Building. And this time, for the first time, Heritage is selling four complete or almost-complete dino skeletons. Hence the public preview that takes place beginning a week from tomorrow.

Here's how our old pal Noah Fleisher at Heritage describes some of the highlights of what he insists is an "unprecedented event":

The auction and exhibition includes an Allosaurus and a Stegosaurus collectively known as "The Fighting Pair," known as such due to their proximity to one another when they were discovered in the Dana Quarry in Wyoming (estimate: $2.8 million), a virtually complete Triceratops skeleton, more than 19 feet long (estimate: $700,000+), a complete duck-billed Maiasaurus (estimate: $450,000+) and the largest set of prehistoric shark jaws ever assembled, from the ferocious Megalodon (estimate: $700,000+), the largest predator that has ever existed, an impressive 11 feet across and almost nine-feet tall when fully assembled. The jaws were the life's work of diver Vito "Megalodon Man" Bertucci, who spent almost 20 years assembling them before passing away in October of 2004 while diving for Shark Teeth in South Carolina.

Man, if only I had the room. The whole catalog's here.

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LaceyB

Always wanted an old bag of bones to keep around the villa. Then I got an ex. Craving met. Money saved.

sheik yerbouti

Where is Jesus in the picture? The Creation Museum in Kentucky told me that humans walked around with the dinosaurs. It wasn't a donkey the lord rode on, but a triceratops!

Falconproject

How much for a rib?

Jean Val Jean

You know who has room? The Science & Natural History Museum in Fair Park. My friends & I got ripped off this past weekend when, we went to see the exhibits on the second floor (which originally had mammoth skeletons, dinosaur ones, and even a giant turtle -- all local), only to find the ENTIRE second floor exhibition halls roped off. That was the reason why we were there: for the dino exhibits. Thank God we paid the extra $5 for the small Chinasaur otherwise it would have been an even more frustrating one. I don't understand how they can justify charging full price without any notification that fully half of their exhibits are closed.I feel robbed.

Lightsfantastic

Sorry about that. The Ice Age Dallas exhibit with the Mammoth Skeleton and the Prehistoric Dallas Seas exhibit (Mosasaur, giant turtle, and fish fossils) are being cleaned and remounted for the New Perot Museum of Nature and Science opening in Victory Park in late 2012 or early 2013. The upstairs portion of the Nature Building will be renovated for a new paleolab which is currently housed in the tiny basement of the building. I'm sure if you email the staff they would be more than happy to make it up to you.

Chic Gods

www.chic-goods.com

Chic Gods

www.chic-goods.com

DoubleOJoe

Please, please, PLEASE let a local museum buy these. I love the fact that the Triceratops in question is on display at the Museum of Nature & Science, but I would hate to see it leave. If we're really serious about making Dallas a "world-class city", exhibits like this would be a great card to have in our hand.