Despite Legal Challenge, Tyrannosaur Sells for $1 million

NEW YORK — A nearly complete tyrannosaur skeleton has sold for just over $1 million, in spite of a call to halt its auction because the fossils may have been taken illegally from Mongolia.

During an auction this afternoon (May 20), Heritage Auctions sold the Tyrannosaurus bataar specimen to an anonymous bidder on the condition that the sale receive court approval.

Opponents did not want the sale to go forward under any condition. A temporary restraining order filed in the name of the Mongolian president Elbegdorj Tsakhia sought to prevent the sale of the skeleton. The court documents contend that the specimen originated in Mongolia, and that the export of fossils excavated in Mongolia is a criminal offense under the country's law.

Under the terms of the sale, the specimen will not be delivered to the buyer until the sale receives court approval, according to Gregory Rohan, president of Heritage Auctions.

Continued:  http://www.livescience.com/20451-tyrannosaur-auction-dispute.html

Rare Tyrannosaurus skeleton to be auctioned

A nearly complete skeleton of a towering Tyrannosaurus bataar is set to go on auction on May 20. The skeleton measures some 8 feet tall and 24 feet long.

This is the first full Tyrannosaurus specimen to go on auction since "Sue," a Tyrannosaurus rex, sold for $8.3 million in 1997, said David Herskowitz, director of Natural History at Heritage Auctions, the auction house conducting the sale.  

The Tyrannosaurus bataar was uncovered in the Gobi Desert roughly eight years ago and has an estimated value of $950,000. Also called Tarbosaurus bataar, this species is an Asian relative to the North American T. rex.

While the specimen's skull is 80 percent complete, the body is about 75 percent complete, Herskowitz said, adding that it is "an impeccably preserved specimen of the sort that is almost never seen on the open market."

The auction is scheduled to include other fossils and minerals, including a T. bataar tooth, an akylosaur skull from the dinosaur Saichania chulsanensis, and a skeleton from a troodontid — a group of dinosaurs whose anatomy suggests they were closely related to birds.

The auction takes place at Center 548 (548 W. 22nd Street in New York City), and the specimens will be on public display before the auction, from May 17–19.

Read on:  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47421185/ns/technology_and_science-science/#.T7IyM-hDtPc