NaturalHistory

Bonhams To Hold Big Sales At The Venetian In Las Vegas

Filed under: Auctions

Two upcoming auctions being held at The Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas by Bonhams and Butterfields appeal to two very different types of buyers. First up is an auction of "Salon Jewelry" that includes diamond and platinum jewelry, signed jewels and watches. The sale features some high-roller-worthy pieces including a selection of men's rings and fine vintage jewelry belonging to the estates of Baron Franz von Mock-Hoeft and Adrian the Marquis de Gradoloff. The catalog mixes interesting antique paste pieces with more modern designer pieces. This sale will take place at The Venetian on September 21. Public previews will also be held at Bonhams and Bufferfields locations in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The other big sale to be held at The Venetian will be a Natural History sale on October 3. The showpiece for this one is a 66-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus skeleton. It is one of the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus fossils. The fossil was found 22 years ago in South Dakota and is known as Samson. It is 40 feet long and 15 feet tall and consists of around 170 bones, more than half of a complete skeleton. The last one of these skeletons to go up for sale, Sue, the most complete specimen ever found, sold for more than $8 million dollars in 1997 to the Chicago Field Museum. Unlike Sue, which was still in pieces when sold, Samson is fully prepared and mounted and could fetch even more. The specimen will be exhibited and sold in the space formerly occupied by The Guggenheim Hermitage Museum.

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Tags: bonhams, bonhams and butterfields, BonhamsAndButterfields, las vegas, LasVegas, natural history, NaturalHistory, tyranosaurus rex, TyranosaurusRex

Rare Birds Stolen From English Museum

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Crimes and Misdemeanors

Art thefts at museums are regrettably fairly common but this may the first I've heard of a bird theft. England's Natural History Museum at Tring says that someone has been walking off with their rare bird specimens. The thieves have stolen around 300 bird skins from an archive of rare tropical birds. The thefts were discovered in June after a break-in but museum officials aren't sure when they were actually stolen. The examples chosen included a number of brightly-colored tropical birds and the thieves could have stolen them for a collector or for other uses. The colorful plumage could end up in fishing lures, dresses or even costume jewelry. Professor Richard Lane, Director of Science at the Museum, said that the "birds that were stolen formed part of the nation's natural history collection, painstakingly assembled over the last 350 years."

[via AP]

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Tags: birds, museum, natural history, NaturalHistory, theft