12/5/2023 0 Comments T rex bones for saleWhile the Rock has been purchasing replica skulls to preserve fossils for science, Cage and DiCaprio have been duking it out in the auction house. (Once again, our apologies to Nicolas Cage-we may be moonstruck over your films, but not your collecting practices). The Rock has stated that he believes dinosaur bones should be in the hands of paleontologists trained to care for them, thus cementing the Rock in America’s heart as the nation’s true national treasure. The choice of a replica is not because he couldn’t afford to house real bones in his den. In his home, he has a replica skull(of the aforementioned T. Additionally, he made large real estate purchases to further his real-life search for the Holy Grail, but has admitted that, in doing so, his behavior “ got out of hand.” The Rock is also a dinosaur fan, but he steers clear of the real deal. His other purchases include shrunken heads, pygmy heads, two castles in Europe, a nine-foot tall ancient burial tomb, and an octopus. Apart from DiCaprio, fellow actor Nicolas Cagehas been known to partake in unconventional collecting practices, such as amassing his own strange collection of antiquities, including a dinosaur skull. These considerations make the practice of collecting dinosaurs a truly exclusive hobby. The draw could be the exorbitant price tag, large size, the storied remains of past millennia, or the limited availability of authentic pieces. Agutte’s, Christie’s, and Sotheby’s have all profited from high-profile buyers like DiCaprio, who treat dinosaur skeletons collectibles for their private homes. Take Leonardo DiCaprio, the long-reigning Hollywood A-lister, who made fossil-buyingstaggering cool by turning his collection of prehistoric skeletal remains into design elements. More commonly, problems stem from the excavation of the bones themselves, and the legality of their sale and export to other countries.ĭinosaur skeletons as décor items are all the rage, the “it” gift to have at home. However, copyright disputes over replica bones are not the only legal issues that arise when dealing with dinosaur fossils. If an object is primarily comprised of replica pieces or is the result of extensive alternations or conservations, then should the auction house market list the lot as authentic? These same questions arise in the context of fine art and all collectibles.)Ĭhristie’s panicked, and withdrew the item. (In fact, this scenario raises questions about the authenticity of the skeleton. It’s easy to see the problem: had Christie’s gone through with the planned sale, the buyer would have been misled into overpaying for a mostly inauthentic and infringing skeleton. The anticipated sticker price for Shen was millions of dollars higher than the measly $120k price of Stan’s polyurethane bones in the Black Hills Institute catalog. If this were true, not only would selling Shen thus violate Black Hills’ intellectual property rights, but the potential buyer would grossly overpay for the skeleton. Black Hills’ president, a paleontologist named Peter Larson, told CNNthat Shen was primarily (“95% or more”) of the same replica bones that comprise Stan. The casts are actually available for purchase for $120,000.īlack Hills’ counsel approached Christie’s after learning that the auction house had planned to sell a T. Black Hills currently uses the protections of Stan’s replica bones to make full-size polyurethane casts of the dinosaur. Stan’s skeleton was sold by Christie’s in 2020 for a record-breaking $31.8 million. Black Hills holds the copyrights to replica bones of a T. A lawyerfor the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research in South Dakota contacted Christie’s with concerns that the dinosaur skeleton listed for sale infringed copyright protections held by Black Hills. This is what gave rise to Christie’s public withdrawal of the item. Intellectual property rights may be held in the structure of the replica bones. This combination of plastic and authentic dino parts acts as the dinosaur’s Instagram filter while on display for her adoring crowd. This is because complete dinosaur skeletons are hard to come by and even properly excavated bones are not in pristine condition. It is common industry practice to include both original and cosmetic (replica) bones when displaying a dinosaur skeleton. To better understand the paleontologist’s claim, it is important to learn a bit about dinosaur skeletons as they appear in museums and on the art market. But it was removed after a paleontologist revealed that the set of bones up for bid violated copyright protections of replica bones. The skeleton was once marketed on the famed auction house’s website as the crown jewel of its Hong Kong sales. In a surprising turn of events, during Thanksgiving Weekend, Christie’s withdrew a valuable Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton from its planned sale. Skeletons in the American Museum of Natural History
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