I'm amazed to learn, via Reuters, that an anonymous buyer recently paid $960 for a couple of pieces of fossilized dinosaur poop.
The two chunks of 130-million-year-old coprolite, otherwise known as fossilized dinosaur dung, fetched $960 at Bonhams in New York on Wednesday, the auction house said.
The Jurassic-era rocks were sold for more than double their maximum estimate, said spokeswoman Staci Smith.
The dung was bought by a phone bidder which the auction house declined to identify.
I'm still trying to get my head around this.
Can someone please explain to me why the end product of a dinosaur's alimentary canal should be of such interest - not to mention value?
I mean, what do you tell your other half?
"Darling, I just spent $960 of our hard-earned money on two pieces of manure."
"You what???"
"But, darling, you don't understand! It's fossilized!"
"And you'll be fossilized when I get my hands on you!"
(Pause for sounds of mayhem and physical assault to die away in the distance.)
Heck, if the buyer's that
Exits left, scratching head, pondering.
Peter
Ah but you see my friend I don't need your modern day DNA..I want DINO DNA...for...a pet...my preciousssssss...
ReplyDeleteheh
...for a mere $500, I can sell the gentleman a nice piece of asphalt shingle.
ReplyDeleteBilled of course as "A Meal for the Man who has Everything"
Heh :)
Peter,
ReplyDeleteAs a retired jeweler, I can tell you that, depending of the size of the specimens, when cut and polished, the 960 may be a deal... if cut as cabs, there isn't a lot of stone loss, and 9x14x4mm cabs go for about 30$ a pop....
PeterT
Peter (NOGH):
ReplyDeleteI suspect the Marines weren't around in prehistoric times. However, if they were, I agree that SOS would undoubtedly have been on the menu!
(Who knows? Perhaps the phrase, "Come on, you apes? Ya wanna live forever?" would have been rather more accurate back then!)
:-)