MiddenMonster
Bronze Member
Last night I saw an episode of "Secrets of the Dead" on the local PBS channel, and it really warmed my heart. It was about the finding and commercial sale of dinosaur skeletons, and generally centered around a triceratops skeleton nicknamed "Big John", which turned out to be the largest triceratops skeleton ever found. The episode focused on the increasing popularity of individuals owning dinosaur skeletons and keeping them in their private collections, hence the question about hunting the wrong caches. One of the main interviewees is a guy with the title "Commercial Paleontology Expert", who repeatedly stressed that everything they do is legal and above board. They flashed several recent auctions on the screen, showing both the appraised value and the final auction price. All were significantly above the appraised value.
Big John ultimately sold for more than $6 million Euros, which put a smile on a lot of faces--except for one guy, and this is where the heartwarming part comes in. This dude is your stereotypical tenured academic and paleontologist, and was apparently sitting at the counter of a diner, but he may as well have been sitting in a Old West saloon and drowning his sorrows. All he was missing was a whiskey glass and a bottle of whiskey sitting next to him. He was dejected. He was distressed. He was sad. He had all the appearances of a broken man. He was upset that private collectors were buying up these skeletons, complaining that the money used to buy them could have funded several salaries for lab workers and funding for academic departments. He was absolutely bitter about the upcoming sale of Big John, and openly hoped that no one would bid on it, though conceding it would probably sell for a lot. Absolutely heartwarming. On the flip side, the guy who found Big John pointed to several dinosaur bones strewn on the ground in one search area, and complained that when dinosaur bones make it to the surface they turn to dust and aren't enjoyed by anyone, and many privately owned dinosaur skeletons are loaned out to universities and museums. Big John was bought by an American collector and put on display at a children's hospital in it's own cool interactive exhibit.
So are we in the wrong business? For now, finding and selling dinosaur skeletons is like the Wild West, with big profits to be made. But it was pointed out in the show that there are international efforts underway to stop the sale of dinosaur skeletons in the same way that finding/recovering treasure has become regulated. They even attached the term "cultural heritage" to the debate as a reason to clamp down on the sales, though short of being a descendant of Fred Flintstone I don't know which "culture" can lay claim to a dinosaur on those grounds.
Big John ultimately sold for more than $6 million Euros, which put a smile on a lot of faces--except for one guy, and this is where the heartwarming part comes in. This dude is your stereotypical tenured academic and paleontologist, and was apparently sitting at the counter of a diner, but he may as well have been sitting in a Old West saloon and drowning his sorrows. All he was missing was a whiskey glass and a bottle of whiskey sitting next to him. He was dejected. He was distressed. He was sad. He had all the appearances of a broken man. He was upset that private collectors were buying up these skeletons, complaining that the money used to buy them could have funded several salaries for lab workers and funding for academic departments. He was absolutely bitter about the upcoming sale of Big John, and openly hoped that no one would bid on it, though conceding it would probably sell for a lot. Absolutely heartwarming. On the flip side, the guy who found Big John pointed to several dinosaur bones strewn on the ground in one search area, and complained that when dinosaur bones make it to the surface they turn to dust and aren't enjoyed by anyone, and many privately owned dinosaur skeletons are loaned out to universities and museums. Big John was bought by an American collector and put on display at a children's hospital in it's own cool interactive exhibit.
So are we in the wrong business? For now, finding and selling dinosaur skeletons is like the Wild West, with big profits to be made. But it was pointed out in the show that there are international efforts underway to stop the sale of dinosaur skeletons in the same way that finding/recovering treasure has become regulated. They even attached the term "cultural heritage" to the debate as a reason to clamp down on the sales, though short of being a descendant of Fred Flintstone I don't know which "culture" can lay claim to a dinosaur on those grounds.
