T Rex for sale on eBay for $2.95 Million

[Eldorado]

"A maverick fossil hunter has put the remains of what he claims is the 'world's only juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex' up for sale on eBay for $2.95 million (£2.26m).

Alan Detrich, who isn't a trained palaeontologist, loaned his unique find to the University of Kansas' (KU) Natural History Museum (NHM) two years ago, which they displayed for more than a year. 

The 68-million-year-old skeleton, dubbed 'Son of Samson', was discovered by Mr Detrich and his brother in 2013 on private land in Montana."

At the UK Daily Mail: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-6927321/Palaeontologists-fury-juvenile-T-Rex-world-emerges-sale-EBAY.html

At Science Mag: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/04/baby-tyrannosaur-s-ebay-auction-sparks-outrage

 

[freetoroam]

The museum should not have given it back. A find like that should not be owned by anyone. It should be part of the museums.

Suppose the museum will not have to bid on it, they must be gutted as they had it in their hands.

[Podo]

What a ****ty person. This find is way more valuable in a museum's possession, so intellectuals can learn from it. What a selfish idiot.

[Dark_Grey]

Some uber rich guy is going to buy that and put it in his bathroom

[travelnjones]

No way T. Rex is worth that, not without Marc Bolan

[toast]

No item condition mentioned ob Ebay, so pls be careful because to me, it looks used.

[toast]

Statement by the seller:

Quote

Many of our viewers point out, that, museum's artifacts are only viewable by those who are able to visit the facility, it’s enclosed in their building, ONLY available for viewing by those that can (sometimes) spend THOUSANDS of dollars to travel to a certain country / city (not to mention, having to plan entire vacation around the necessary travel).  Once put ONLINE, the entire World can enjoy it 24/7/365.  Also, a large reason we have some of the most rare artifacts in the world is because of the incentives provided by the private market. If it wasn't for the possibility of finance, would anyone spend thousands of hours and countless dollars of personal money trying find these these items, going YEARS with no success. Why are all marine archaeologist searching for shipwreck treasure as opposed to ancient lost civilizations under water. Because it costs millions, financed by publicly traded companies (and private companies) searching for these sites, there has to be a chance of a payday otherwise there would BE NO TREASURE to be seen by the world along with these crushing rare artifacts (such as this baby t-rex we are blessed enough to admire.) Investors are willing to risk their money in hopes of finding these worldly treasures because there's the possibility of some time of return even tho, and makes us feel in touch with the 10 year old kid in all of us. We feel it’s MORE important for the World to be able to view and enjoy this (and all Artifacts) rather than a select view who can make it to the museum. Also, most high end collectors love to share their collection with the world (leasing to museums etc)  and welcome future research and the publication of that research.  We want to share this important discovery with the Whole World!

I agree with the argumentation related to the costs invested. Of course, the object should be in a public museum but until now all museums have the chance to bid on the item and maybe there are some rich people who are willing to buy it and to lend it to museums worldwide, in the same way as arts are lend. Hell, 1B has been collected for a cathedral lately, so where is the ****ing problem with lousy 3M?