#megalosaurus — Public Fediverse posts

“O bliss of the collector, bliss of the man of leisure!… Ownership is the most intimate relationship one can have to objects. Not that they come alive in him; it is he who comes alive in them.”*…

Readers may have seen news of the sale of “Gus,” a T. Rex skeleton that fetched a record $50,130,000 at Sotheby’s in New York last Tuesday. It’s part of a trend.

Devon Pendleton reports that dinosaurs have become an asset class for billionaires, with alarming implications for science… and, unsurprisingly, the market is about as orderly and genteel as a starving T. Rex. She uses a different recent sale, one that went pear-shaped, as an example…

It was supposed to be an unprecedented sale for the world’s wealthiest collectors. Shen, a Tyrannosaurus rex, was set to be the first of its kind ever sold at auction in Asia. The reconstructed creature, whose name means “godlike” in Chinese, was tens of millions of years old and longer than a city bus, frozen midstep with its massive skull cocked, jaws agape, as if ready to snatch up an onlooker. Christie’s was auctioning off Shen in November 2022, alongside works by Picasso, and it was expected to sell for $15 million to $25 million.

Dinosaur skeletons had recently become a hot new asset class, coveted by the ultrarich, not unlike sports franchises or Fabergé eggs. They offered a mix of glamour and primal appeal to a certain type of high-net-worth buyer—someone who might find the conventional art market fussy or convoluted but couldn’t deny the allure of a T. rex. “It could gobble you up in one bite. It’s just an amazing creature,” says billionaire Dan O’Dowd, who bought his T. rex, Samson, for a bargain $600,000 in 2009. “It’s the best trophy kind of thing you could own.”

Two years before the Shen auction, Christie’s had sold a T. rex named Stan, said to be one of the most complete and best-preserved specimens ever found, for $31.8 million, trouncing the top-end presale estimate of $8 million. And two years after the Shen auction, financier Ken Griffin spent $44.6 million on a stegosaurus (“a vegetarian,” O’Dowd notes). Leonardo DiCaprio, Nicolas Cage and other celebrities have gotten in on the dino game too.

A dinosaur’s value, like a painting’s or sculpture’s, derives from a protean mix of provenance, desire and authenticity—the last one hard to define, let alone prove, and in the case of an auction, up to the buyer to verify. Christie’s marketing blitz for Shen included the claim that it was one of the most “scientifically studied T. rex skeletons to come to auction,” featuring it in a short promotional video in which the camera cinematically races in for tight shots of its menacing talons and gaping jaw as eerie electronic music pulses in the background. Christie’s made clear that the winning bidder would also get renaming rights, a tradition in which T. rexes in circulation are often given human names.

A month before Shen was supposed to arrive at Christie’s in Hong Kong, it was put on display at Singapore’s Victoria Theatre and Victoria Concert Hall, a stately neoclassical building with a grand clock tower. Families, tourists and prospective buyers in chauffeured Bentleys came to see the T. rex in the flesh, so to speak. But Shen never made it to the auction block…

[Pendleton unpacks the full–and fascinating– tale of Shen. She concludes…]

… In recent years the dinosaur market has gotten only more exuberant. Last year at Sotheby’s a juvenile Ceratosaurus—smaller than a T. rex, but just as carnivorous—sold for $30.5 million, five times its high estimate. Some collectors, including Abu Dhabi’s new natural history museum and German biotech investor Christian Angermayer, are funding teams of bone hunters to scour the fossil-rich western US. Todd Graves, the billionaire behind Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, emerged as a collector when he lent his triceratops skull to the Louisiana Art & Science Museum.

And on July 14 in New York, Sotheby’s held what was hyped to be the hottest T. rex auction yet. Gus, as the creature is named, was described as 61% complete by bone count and 75% to 80% by bone mass with “an exceptionally preserved skull.” As the bids climbed, the auctioneer tempted potential buyers. “Try a bigger bite,” she said. “It’s a T. Rex after all.” Gus sold for $50.1 million, the highest ever paid for a dinosaur at auction.

Billionaires and their toys: “The Bone Rush,” gift article from @bloomberg.com.

* Walter Benjamin

###

As we ponder possession, we might recall that it was on this date in 1983 that a new species of flesh‑eating dinosaur nicknamed “Claws,” later formally named Baryonyx walkeri was announced…

A huge new dinosaur skeleton has been unveiled to the media at the Natural History Museum in London.

Plumber and amateur fossil hunter Bill Walker, 55, found a foot-long claw belonging to the flesh-eating beast at a clay pit in Surrey in January.

When he found the rock containing the talon he tapped it and the whole thing cracked.

Palaeontologists reconstructed it and dated the remains at 125 million years old, describing them as the find of the century…

… Nicknamed Claws, the dinosaur would have been slightly smaller than the Tyrannosaurus Rex – with teeth like steak knives – and was probably a sub-species of the Megalosaurus.

– source

My 25 years of palaeoart chronology...

A closer look at one of the artworks from my section in Mesozoic Art II, edited by Steve White and Darren Naish, published by Bloomsbury Publishing UK.

Mesozoic Art II comes out this September, pre-order here: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/mesozoic-art-ii-9781399412209/

#Art #Painting #PaleoArt #PalaeoArt #SciArt #SciComm #DigitalArt #Illustration #Dinosaurs #Birds #Pterosaurs #Reptiles #MarineReptiles #Palaeontology #Paleontology #MesozoicArt #Megalosaurus #Jurassic

𝗪𝗜𝗞𝗜𝗣𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗔'𝗦 𝗙𝗘𝗔𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗘𝗗 𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗟𝗘

✧ Proceratosaurus ✧

Proceratosaurus is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived during the Middle Jurassic in what is now England. The holotype and only known specimen (pictured) consists of a mostly complete skull with an accompanying lower jaw and a hyoid bone, found near Minchinhampton, a town in Gloucestershire. It was originally d...

#MiddleJurassic #England #Ceratosaurus #WesternEurope #Megalosaurus #Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proceratosaurus

My 25 years of palaeoart chronology...

Zooms into my Territory of the Megalosaurus artwork, one of the pieces in my section of Mesozoic Art II, edited by Steve White and @TetZoo, published by Bloomsbury Publishing UK.
Mesozoic Art II comes out this September, pre-order here: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/mesozoic-art-ii-9781399412209/

#Art #Painting #PaleoArt #PalaeoArt #SciArt #SciComm #DigitalArt #Illustration #Dinosaurs #Pterosaurs #Reptiles #MarineReptiles #Palaeontology #Paleontology #MesozoicArt #Megalosaurus #Jurassic

My 25 years of palaeoart chronology...

Here's one of the artworks from my section in Mesozoic Art II, edited by Steve White and Darren Naish, published by Bloomsbury Publishing UK.

Mesozoic Art II comes out this September, pre-order here: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/mesozoic-art-ii-9781399412209/

#Art #Painting #PaleoArt #PalaeoArt #SciArt #SciComm #DigitalArt #Illustration #Dinosaurs #Birds #Pterosaurs #Reptiles #MarineReptiles #Palaeontology #Paleontology #MesozoicArt #Megalosaurus #Jurassic

Megalosaurus (Wild Safari by Safari Ltd.)

I got into the dinosaur collecting hobby around 2010, and from then until 2023 the 1974 Invicta Megalosaurus stood as the sole representative of the first dinosaur described by science in my collection. For shame! But 2023 saw the release of the PNSO Megalosaurus and my thirst for a modern figure of this important animal was quenched. Sure, it had the funky exposed teeth and drab brown […]

Read more... https://dinotoyblog.com/megalosaurus-wild-safari-by-safari-ltd/

#Megalosaurus#SafariLtd #WildSafari

My 25 years of palaeoart chronology...

Here's my stupid face with the Jurassic landscape packaging art, for the Megalosaurus coin, from the 2020 Dinosauria collection (Tales of the Earth range), by The Royal Mint and the Natural History Museum, London.

#Art #Painting #PaleoArt #PalaeoArt #SciArt #SciComm #DigitalArt #Illustration #Dinosaurs #Birds #Reptiles #Palaeontology #Paleontology #Megalosaurus

My 25 years of palaeoart chronology...

Some zooms into my Jurassic landscape packaging art, for the Megalosaurus coin, from the 2020 Dinosauria collection (Tales of the Earth range), by The Royal Mint and the Natural History Museum, London.

#Art #Painting #PaleoArt #PalaeoArt #SciArt #SciComm #DigitalArt #Illustration #Dinosaurs #Birds #Reptiles #Palaeontology #Paleontology #Megalosaurus

My 25 years of palaeoart chronology...

Here's my Megalosaurus coin Jurassic landscape packaging art, from the 2020 Dinosauria collection (Tales of the Earth range), from The Royal Mint and the Natural History Museum, London.

#Art #Painting #PaleoArt #PalaeoArt #SciArt #SciComm #DigitalArt #Illustration #Dinosaurs #Birds #Reptiles #Palaeontology #Paleontology #Megalosaurus

My 25 years of palaeoart chronology...

Here's my finished Megalosaurus coin art, from the 2020 Dinosauria collection (Tales of the Earth range), from The Royal Mint and the Natural History Museum, London.

#Art #Painting #PaleoArt #PalaeoArt #SciArt #SciComm #DigitalArt #Illustration #Dinosaurs #Birds #Reptiles #Palaeontology #Paleontology #Megalosaurus

My 25 years of palaeoart chronology...

In 2020 I won the opportunity to create a series of Dinosauria coins for The Royal Mint and the Natural History Museum, London. Here are the three coins – Megalosaurus, Iguanodon, and Hylaeosaurus, – before production.

#Art #Painting #PaleoArt #PalaeoArt #SciArt #SciComm #DigitalArt #Illustration #Dinosaurs #Birds #Reptiles #Palaeontology #Paleontology #Megalosaurus #Iguanodon #Hylaeosaurus

My 25 years of palaeoart chronology...

In 2020 I won the opportunity to create a series of Dinosauria coins for The Royal Mint and the Natural History Museum, London. There were three coins – Iguanodon, Hylaeosaurus, and here's Megalosaurus being drawn.

#Art #Painting #PaleoArt #PalaeoArt #SciArt #SciComm #DigitalArt #Illustration #Dinosaurs #Birds #Reptiles #Palaeontology #Paleontology #Megalosaurus

My 25 years of palaeoart chronology...

In 2020 I won the opportunity to create a series of Dinosauria coins for The Royal Mint and the Natural History Museum, London. There were three coins – Iguanodon, Hylaeosaurus, and here's my reconstruction of Megalosaurus.

#Art #Painting #PaleoArt #PalaeoArt #SciArt #SciComm #DigitalArt #Illustration #Dinosaurs #Birds #Reptiles #Palaeontology #Paleontology #Megalosaurus

😲 wow!

BBC News - UK's biggest ever dinosaur footprint site unearthed
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c24nzeqq1l2o

#dinosaurfootprints #megalosaurus #cetiosaurus #oxfordshire #diggingforbritain

Top #fossil discoveries of 2024 https://paleonerdish.wordpress.com/2024/12/31/top-fossil-discoveries-of-2024/ by @Ferwen

"On the bicentenary of #MaryAnning’s #Plesiosaurus and the introduction of #Megalosaurus, the first scientific report of a #dinosaur, #Paleontology stood out and offered some extraordinary highlights about life in the past."

#Fossils #Dinosaurs #Animals #Biology

latest episode of Terrible Lizards, with @dave_hone and @iszi is on Megalosaurioids, the clade containing Megalosaurus, the first dinosaur described, and yet still among the most mysterious. Torvosaurus, Eustreptospondylus, various spinosaurs, and other dinosaurs also come into the episode. But mostly, Cass Morrison drops lots of hints about cool new findings on Megalosaurioids coming along sometime soon

https://terriblelizards.libsyn.com/tls10e07-the-megalosauroids

#dinosaurs
#200yearsOfDinosaurs
#megalosaurus
#TheropodThursday

My 25 years of palaeoart chronology...

This photo shows the size of the Megalosaurus in the Scarborough Rotunda Museum's immersive Jurassic exhibition mural (2012). The adult Megalosaurus was on the east wall.

#Art #Painting #PaleoArt #PalaeoArt #SciArt #SciComm #DigitalArt #Illustration #Dinosaurs #Birds #Reptiles #Palaeontology #Paleontology #JurassicWorld #Megalosaurus

My 25 years of palaeoart chronology...

Last two photos of the Scarborough's Rotunda Museum's immersive Jurassic exhibition mural (2012). The adult Megalosaurus was on the east wall and the stegosaurs the south.

#Art #Painting #PaleoArt #PalaeoArt #SciArt #SciComm #DigitalArt #Illustration #Dinosaurs #Birds #Reptiles #Palaeontology #Paleontology #JurassicWorld #Megalosaurus

My 25 years of palaeoart chronology...

Here's the mural I created of a 2012 immersive Jurassic exhibition I built for Scarborough's Rotunda Museum. The mural wrapped around the room; the north wall (also the Jurassic view north) included Megalosaurus.

#Art #Painting #PaleoArt #PalaeoArt #SciArt #SciComm #DigitalArt #Illustration #Dinosaurs #Birds #Reptiles #Palaeontology #Paleontology #JurassicWorld #Megalosaurus

My 25 years of palaeoart chronology...

In 2012 I built an immersive Jurassic exhibition for Scarborough's Rotunda Museum. My centrepiece was a life-size juvenile Megalosaurus; here's how I built the riverside environment around it (Part 8 of 8).

#Art #Painting #PaleoArt #PalaeoArt #SciArt #SciComm #DigitalArt #Illustration #Dinosaurs #Birds #Reptiles #Palaeontology #Paleontology #JurassicWorld #Megalosaurus

My 25 years of palaeoart chronology...

In 2012 I built an immersive Jurassic exhibition for Scarborough's Rotunda Museum. My centrepiece was a life-size juvenile Megalosaurus; here's how I built the riverside environment around it (Part 7 of 8).

#Art #Painting #PaleoArt #PalaeoArt #SciArt #SciComm #DigitalArt #Illustration #Dinosaurs #Birds #Reptiles #Palaeontology #Paleontology #JurassicWorld #Megalosaurus

My 25 years of palaeoart chronology...

In 2012 I built a Megalosaurus for Scarborough's Rotunda Museum; how I built it (Part 6 of 8). Unfortunately, the colours had to match my old illustration at the museum & I only had 1 day to paint it!

#Art #Painting #PaleoArt #PalaeoArt #SciArt #SciComm #DigitalArt #Illustration #Dinosaurs #Birds #Reptiles #Palaeontology #Paleontology #JurassicWorld #Megalosaurus