Blog

Pteranodon sells for US$3.9 million to join fossil pantheon

Tags: , ,

A rare and large Pteranodon skeleton sold at a Sotheby’s auction in New York this evening for US$3,932,000, adding further weight to the influence of the Jurassic Park franchise and moving into the top five most valuable fossils of all-time: behind only Tyrannosaurus Rex, Velociraptor, Triceratops and Gorgosaurus.

Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park franchise awakened the world to the real life monsters of Earth’s past and it has been anointing auction block superstars for a quarter century, with yet another joining the multi-million-dollar fossil club this evening.

Jurassic Park has been turning relatively unknown monsters into brand-name killers with auction block credibility ever since Sue the Tyrannosaurus Rex sold for $8.3 million in 1997, thanks to it becoming the cover-star of the 1990 best-selling novel Jurassic Park and the billion-dollar-box-office hit 1993 Steve Spielberg movie of the same name.

The "Jurassic Park" novel and movie created pandemonium for fossil prices during the 1990s, initially creating a buoyant fossil auction marketplace beyond swap meets for the first time, then followed by massive auction price fluctuations as supply overwhelmed demand twice, the creation of a massive illegal trade in internationally-sourced fossils, then with prices normalising at unprecedented strength, catalyzing the extraordinary situation that saw mankind's natural heritage hit the open market with the sale of Sue the Tyrannosaurus rex. Jurassic Park unquestionably catalyzed the fossil marketplace.

The “Jurassic Park” novel and movie created pandemonium for fossil prices during the 1990s, initially creating a buoyant fossil auction marketplace beyond swap meets for the first time, then followed by massive auction price fluctuations as supply overwhelmed demand twice, the creation of a massive illegal trade in internationally-sourced fossils, then with prices normalising at unprecedented strength, catalyzing the extraordinary situation that saw mankind’s natural heritage hit the open market with the sale of Sue the Tyrannosaurus rex. Jurassic Park unquestionably catalyzed the fossil marketplace.

Indeed, Crichton and Spielberg kickstarted an entirely new auction genre with the dinosaur awareness their stories created, as prior to Sue, a fossil of any sort had never come close to reaching $1 million at auction and since then there have been 17 such sales, with the record price for a fossil now multiplied by two orders of magnitude since the Jurassic Park box office juggernaut first launched.

Our listing of the world's most valuable fossils by species almost had two major revisions during Sotheby's today, with a Plesiosaurus bid to $550,000 but failing to meet the reserve price and hence being passed in. With buyers premium that would have been a world record for the species if it had been accepted. The highest bidder usually gets an opportunity to negotiate and given the Zone of Potential Agreement was relatively narrow, a sale may yet be announced. The Pteranodon's previous position and new position in the grand scheme of fossils (though it is primarily a list of scary critters) are noted in orange. Links to prior auctions can be found in the captions in the image gallery for this article.

Our listing of the world’s most valuable fossils by species almost had two major revisions during Sotheby’s today, with a Plesiosaurus bid to $550,000 but failing to meet the reserve price and hence being passed in. With buyers premium that would have been a world record for the species if it had been accepted. The highest bidder usually gets an opportunity to negotiate and given the Zone of Potential Agreement was relatively narrow, a sale may yet be announced. The Pteranodon’s previous position and new position in the grand scheme of fossils (though it is primarily a list of scary critters) are noted in orange. Links to prior auctions can be found in the captions in the image gallery for this article.

Tonight, we saw the largest Pteranodon skeleton ever to go to auction, and the supersized carnivorous flying reptile that has featured in every Jurassic Park franchise movie and video game since launch, did not disappoint. Bidding started at $2 million, and progressed rapidly in $200,000 increments to $3.2 million. The decisiveness of the winning bidder suggested that they had a big bankroll and equal amounts of determination. With the buyer’s premium added, the final price amounted to $3,932,000, making the Pteranodon one of the most valuable fossil finds of all time.

The aviary scene in Jurassic Park III will live in the memory of all those who saw it. That's a Pteranodon, as visualised by Steven Spielberg, being none too happy about having unannounced visitors in its home.

The aviary scene in Jurassic Park III will live in the memory of all those who saw it. That’s a Pteranodon, as visualised by Steven Spielberg, being none too happy about having unannounced visitors in its home.

One of the many factors influencing the value of 85-million-year-old fossils is rarity – finding bones that haven’t turned to dust is hard enough, but the Pteranodon’s bones were designed for flight and were hence hollow and the walls were thin, so Pteranodons make for particularly fragile fossils that rarely last this long.

Partial Pteranodon skeletons found elsewhere have suggested that the frightening carnivorous reptile could grow much larger than double the size of the specimen that sold this evening. With a wing span of 20 feet (6 m), it was double the size of the last Pteranodon to sell at auction at Koller Auktion in Vienna last year, but less than half the size of some that have been found. That means that the larger specimens of the species would have had a larger wingspan than an F35 Joint Strike Fighter plane.

The Pteranodon really hit prime time in Jurassic Park III, and like the Velociraptor, the only thing wanting for the Pteranadon to become an auction block star was a suitably large fossilized skeleton. It took decades before a suitably complete and large velociraptor skeleton was found on private land and could hence go to auction, but when it did, it surpassed all the brand-name dinosaurs but Tyrannosaurus rex, fetching $12,412,500 at a Christie’s auction in 2022. Again, without a bit of Spielberg exaggeration and the Jurassic Park awareness, it would almost certainly have fetched far less.

If the aviary scene in Jurassic Park III didn't frighten six months growth out of you, the following scene might have done the trick. It involved the Pteranodon picking up a human (above left and top right) and taking him home for lunch ... to his Pteranodon nest (bottom right) that was full of Pteranodon chicks. Such scenes make a deep impression.

If the aviary scene in Jurassic Park III didn’t frighten six months growth out of you, the following scene might have done the trick. It involved the Pteranodon picking up a human (above left and top right) and taking him home for lunch … to his Pteranodon nest (bottom right) that was full of Pteranodon chicks. Such scenes make a deep impression.

Anyway, it’s Geek Week at Sotheby’s and history was made today with the sale of Horus, which now looks certain to be the first non-dinosaur to be admitted to the global pantheon of child-endorsed monsters, joining the list of usual suspects: Tyrannosaurus rex, Velociraptor, Triceratops and Diplodocus.

Source: Sotheby’s

Source of Article