Massive egg from extinct bird and T. rex tooth set to fetch thousands at auction

By Pol Allingham via SWNS

Nature's curios such as a massive egg from the extinct Elephant Bird and a T. rex tooth are set to fetch thousands when they are auctioned off.

The egg measures over a foot in length, and scrambling one would be the same as 100 chicken eggs.

Its mother towered 10 feet high and the species that lived on Madagascar is thought to have become extinct some time between 1200 and 1700.

Now, her egg is estimated to sell for £4,000 to £6,000 ($4,870 to $7,305) at the December 8 Curated Auctions sale.

The massive egg will go up for auction alongside relics from a Tyrannosaurus rex, woolly mammoths, giant Irish elks, megalodon sharks, cave bears, woolly rhinoceros, dodos, and numerous other extinct birds.

Rachael Osborn Howard with a rare Tyrannosaurus rex tooth. (Curated Auctions via SWNS)

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A very rare Tyrannosaurus rex tooth is expected to fetch between £10,000 and £15,000 ($12,175 to $18,262), and there is a dinosaur skull for sale too.

In October 2020 a T. rex skeleton nicknamed Stan sold for over £26,000,000 ($31,655,130) - the highest price ever reached for a fossil.

Attendees could also walk home with three dodo bones, each ranging between £1,200 and £2,000 ($1,461 to $2,435).

The extinct bird’s bones reportedly come on the open market very rarely.

Viktor Wynd sold dodo bones in 2021, but auctioneers have claimed there have been none on the open market since 1934.

In 2021 a dodo bone from Viktor Wynd’s collection sold for £5,000 ($6,087), and in 2019 Christie’s sold a full dodo skeleton for nearly £500,000 ($608,752).

The bones at this Curated Auctions sale come from the same private collector that sourced the bones for Viktor Wynd’s 2021 collection and have been certified by world-renowned expert Errol Fuller.

Several extinct bird feathers are on the line-up too, from the same private collector.

People will be able to buy feathers from the extinct passenger pigeon, Carolina parakeet, and the ivory-billed woodpecker.

Works from celebrated taxidermist Simon “the stuffa” Wilson will feature too, following on from his famed preservation of Apprentice contestant Luisa Zissman’s favorite horse.

People can purchase “the stuffa”’s full-mount taxidermy polar bear, or another bear that appears to be held afloat in the air by balloons.

A monkey held up by balloons is up for grabs too.

The polar bear is expected to fetch between £12,000 and £18,000 ($14,610 to $21,915).

Wilson is also renowned for producing the star lot of the Aynhoe Park sale in 2021 - a taxidermied giraffe held by balloons 'floating' the beast into the sky, which fetched the record-breaking sum of £100,000 ($121,750).

The taxidermist sources his animals that have died from natural causes in zoos or farms, and his work has been featured in film and television.

Commenting on this highly unusual sale, specialist and founder of Curated Auctions, Rachael Osborn-Howard said: “I am so excited to present these exceptional items to the public, and this auction offers buyers a very rare chance to own a piece of true natural history, sourced from across the world.

“From the Madagascan elephant bird to the Mauritian dodo, from the T. rex tooth excavated in the US, to the Woolly Mammoth bones dredged from the North Sea, this collection of diverse objects will surely inspire wonder and awe, just as the original collector’s cabinets did.”

Next to the star lots will be over 300 other taxidermies, curiosities, natural history, naturalia, and mirabilia - otherwise known as unusual natural phenomena.

People will be able to buy artificialia - items wrought by man, ethnographica - items from the wider world, scientifica - items that brought greater understanding of the university, and artefacta - items related to history.