Monday March 30, 2009
By KEE HUA CHEE
THE awesome skeletal frames of long-gone monsters are no longer the domain of national museums. You, too, can own a fully assembled dinosaur at the upcoming April 7 sale at Christie’s showroom in Paris. They will even arrange for shipping and assembly, and entertain any queries you may have on legal issues.
“This prehistoric sale is very new as our first was in 2007 when it set 12 world records with sales of €1mil,” says Capucine Milliot, Christie’s spokesman.
Sabre-toothed tiger hunting an oreodont (23.5 to 53 million years old) Estimate: €80,000-120,000 “Last year we sold €2.2mil and set 11 world records, so prices are slowly moving up. The Triceratops, christened Cliff, fetched nearly €600,000 and is now at the Museum of Science in Boston.”
There are over a hundred lots in the upcoming sale featuring exceptional skeletons and reconstructed, fossilised scenes of prehistoric life. Those who watch National Geographic, Animal Planet, History Channel and Discovery Channel will be awe-stricken to see the skeletal remains of those artfully animated creatures that roamed and roared so realistically on TV. Imagine touching and examining their very bones and knowing they can be yours. Now all you need is to find a corner, a very large one, to display it.
You will need room for a re-enactment of a sabre-toothed tiger jumping in the air in the act of killing an oreodont, its usual herbivorous prey, shrinking in terror at its impending doom. Think Ice Age and you get the drift. These skeletons are around 25 to 50 million years old and are estimated at RM500,000.
A sabre-toothed tiger skull is RM200,000. Sabre-toothed tigers are not that rare but a well-constructed specimen is. Only three museums in the world have such a complete skeleton: Los Angeles County Museum, National Museum of Natural History in Washington, and the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
Another space occupier is the spectacular and rare diorama of a mother dinosaur guarding her eggs. Dubbed “Dino Nursery,” this clutch of nine Psittacosaurus babies with their mother is dated 65 to 135 million years old.
“It is rare to find such a scene as the eggs are intact with the mother guarding them. The burial of this family could only have occurred under unusual and rare cataclysmic events like landslide, mudslide or volcanic eruption that annihilated them instantly without too much disintegration,” explains Milliot. Its rarity comes at a price tag of RM1mil.
The ‘Dino Nursery’ showing the mother Psittacosaurus with nine hatchlings. Estimate: €180,000-€220,000 Aquarists will go gaga over the stunning skeleton of the Opthalmosaurus (160 to 200 million years old and costing RM900,000) which resembles a dolphin from the Ichtyosaur family. Its eyes were the biggest of all marine species.
Most dino skeletons, once mounted, are not easily moved but this is displayed museum-style in three dimensions so you can admire the bones from every direction. Best of all, it is set on rollers so you can effortlessly move it from one place to another.
If you are into dramatic displays, nothing comes close to showing off the gigantic jaw of the planet’s biggest shark ever, the prehistoric Megalodon that has been shown on National Geographic repeatedly over the years.
A Carcharodon megalodon shark could reach 13m in length. This jaw has 168 grasping, serrated teeth and opens at 2.2m at its highest, so you can actually use it as a doorway. Estimated at a cool RM700,000.
Another stunner is the Cave Bear (Ursus spelaeus), shown in a dynamic posture of grappling a salmon in its paw. Mounted atop an elevated stand, this eye-catcher is possibly the best buy at only RM100,000, the cost of a Parisian couture gown.
Not everything is a hundred grander. The earth was populated by bizarre beasts and creepy crawlies like trilobites, urchins, sea sponges, star fish, crabs and shellfish. With a starting price of only RM3,000, almost everyone can bid.
Of modern origins is Malaysia’s contribution – a glass case of five giant stick insects that resemble the leaves they move in. At RM2,500 they seem pricey as we can get them at souvenir shops but these were preserved decades ago.
Another curiosity is the mineral agate naturally shaped like eyes. Known in the trade as “Porteno gaze”, these unusual and unique pair with their mesmerising gaze is offered at a starting price of RM15,000.
Classified as a national treasure in Madagascar, the Aepyornis egg is another great acquisition. This giant elephant bird became extinct in the 17th century and was the basis of the garuda and roc of Sinbad the Sailor. Marco Polo described them as “strong enough to carry off elephants,” hence its moniker. Though it weighed up to 500 kg and stood under 4m, it was flightless but its eggs had a circumference of over 1m. Its eggs were bigger than any dinosaur’s and it is believed no creature could physically lay a larger egg due to its biological physiognomy. One sold for RM420,000 last year but this egg is estimated at only RM60,000.
This could well be the ultimate Easter egg and what better way to invest your nest egg?
This article was taken from: The Star Online: Lifestyle: Focus 30 March 2009
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