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Scientists growling over T-Rex auction
September 3, 1997
Web posted at: 4:21 p.m. EDT (2021 GMT)
From Correspondent Jonathan Karl
NEW YORK (CNN) -- "Sue" is the most complete and largest Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil discovered to date. But now its rightful owner plans to put the precious bones on the auction block -- the first such sale of its kind. The expected $1 million bid causes some scientists to worry about the impact of the auction on dinosaur research.
The carnivorous T-Rex roamed the earth 65 million years ago. And while the giant-sized animal has left its mark in such movies as "Jurassic Park," T-Rex fossils have also become some of the most prized in the world.
Sue is particularly an interesting specimen since it is 90 percent complete.
And that may well be the reason why Sue's rightful owner, rancher Maurice Williams, decided to put the bones on the auction block at Sotheby's in New York in October.
"It'll be a very quick event," said David Redden, executive vice president of Sotheby's. "It's the only object being sold on that day. Just one item. It will take perhaps three minutes to sell."
These three minutes could yield a hefty profit, since experts predict that Sue may sell for well over $1 million.
William's ownership followed much dispute and debate. The fossils were excavated in Faith, South Dakota, in 1990. And the man who collected them, Peter Larson, had the intention of putting them up as the centerpiece of his museum.
The dispute over who really owns the precious bones led to a surprise raid on Larson's museum in 1992, when FBI agents seized the fossils.
Despite local protests, Sue's bones remained locked in 135 boxes stored in a Manhattan warehouse.
Finally, the courts decided that Williams was the rightful owner of Sue. He originally had sold rights to excavate the fossils from his property.
But some scientists are deeply concerned by his unprecedented auction plans.
"It's not a happy story for science," said Peter Dobson of the Philadelphia Museum of Natural Sciences. That view was echoed by Paleontologist Jack Gauthier of Yale University: "We are very much concerned about what this portends for the future of the field. It's as if a national monument is on the auction block."
Sotheby's and the owner are granting a kind of discount to bidders for museums by offering them a three-year interest-free payment plan.
But Sotheby's admit it will be a public auction, where anybody can bid.
And that could well mean that the greatest T-Rex fossil ever dug up may find its way into a private collection, away from scientists and the general public.
Related stories:
- Paleontologists reconstruct world's largest bird - August 13, 1997
- California paleontologists roam 'valley of the mastodons' - July 12, 1997
- Digging dino with homemade fossil finder - June 12, 1997
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