natural history

Roy Rogers And More At Bonham's Natural History Auction

Roy Rogers was once an American icon and the "King of the Cowboys" but what you might not know about the singer and actor who died in 1998 was that he was a rockhound and mineral collector. Some of his mineral treasures are part of Bonhams upcoming Natural History auction on May 27 in New York City.

Rogers collected nearly every detail from his life. He held on to everything he could. In today's world he'd might end up an episode of a hoarding television show but instead the cowboy icon created a museum full of all the personal things he saved. Even his famous horse, Trigger, was mounted and displayed at the museum, which was first in Victorville, California. The museum suffered with dwindling attendance and in 2003 was moved to Branson, Missouri. Unfortunately it didn't fare too well there either and it closed last year. The various pieces of the collection, from the old battered car that took Rogers's family from Ohio to the large memorabilia archives from the family and the old Roy Rogers television show, will be sold off piecemeal through various auction houses with appropriate specialties.

Tags: cameos, gemstones, jewelry, jewelry designers, natural history, roy rogers, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans

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Bonhams To Hold Big Sales At The Venetian In Las Vegas

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

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