The Chippendale can’t compete
This weekend, Bonhams & Butterfields is previewing and selling the remains of Barnum -- only the second Tyrannosaurus rex to become available for public auction. Barnum’s bones include some stomach ribs and supports, rarely found in T. rex digs.
The 65-million-year-old skeletal parts (20% complete) are valued at $400,000 to $900,000, although “it’s hard to put an estimate on a dinosaur of this magnitude,” says Thomas Lindgren, the natural history specialist who assembled the nearly 600 items that will go up for bid. “It’s the largest natural history auction ever attempted,” he adds.
If a T. rex fits neither your house nor your budget, take heart. Bonhams & Butterfields will introduce a new category, “Decor,” described by Lindgren as “a design alternative” -- decorating with natural rather than man-made items.
“Nature doesn’t have to just be observed, it can be lived with in the home,” explains Lindgren. “Fossils are not just historical, they’re beautiful art objects. It’s been catching on with the interior design business over the past few years.”
From an investment standpoint, natural items have inherent value because each piece is unique, he adds, and not reproducible. “Their value increases over time.”
Among the Decor objects are a 210- million-year-old petrified red-ringed wood slab mounted on a contemporary wood stump base (estimated at $1,500 to $2,000) that would make a coffee table even George Nakashima couldn’t have imagined.
The auction excludes certain items, however.
“We will not sell mounted animals of any kind or antique birds that, despite being over 100 years old, are now on an endangered species list,” says Lindgren. “It’s important to us that we do not in any way promote the killing of animals or illegal digging.”
Prices will range from $100 to $500,000.
Bonhams & Butterfields
Location: 7601 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles,
(323) 850-7500
Preview hours and dates: Today and Friday,
10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sale: Sunday, 11 a.m.
Website: www.butterfields.com
Pyrite cubes
Lot 1125: Two pyrite cubes, 2 1/2 by
4 1/2 by 2 1/4 inches
Estimated sale price: $400 to $500
Known as “fool’s gold,” pyrite was formed hundreds of millions of years ago from iron-rich sedimentary rock that was spewed from Earth’s core to the ocean bottom.
This unusual double-formed specimen has a lustrous metallic texture that might put you in mind of the work of modern sculptor David Smith.
It would be equally at home in a Modernist or contemporary setting.
“This pair of pyrite cubes almost looks like it could be an artistic, man-made piece of art -- except that it’s more perfect,” says Lindgren. “Man couldn’t make it that perfect.”
Rare zoomorphic meteorite
Lot 1052: The “Gibeon Terrier,” 8 1/2 by 8 1/2 by 4 inches, weighing 12.1 pounds, on a museum mount
Estimated sale price: $50,000 to $60,000
“Zoomorphic” is a relatively recent term used to describe a natural object that resembles a living thing. This form, which is shaped like an asteroid version of Asta, is part of a meteorite fall that covered about 450 square miles in Great Nana Land, Namibia, on the edge of the Kalahari Desert.
“Gibeon” is the term given to all the nickel-iron meteorites from this meteorite shower, discovered in 1838. It is extremely rare for them to exhibit naturally formed holes such as this one, which resembles a canine eye.
“For every 10,000 iron meteorites that look like globs,” says Lindgren of the piece -- which comes from the Macovich collection, the largest in the world -- “there is something this amazing that looks like the profile of a dog.”
Ammonite on stand
Lot 1228: Anclyoceras, Cretaceous,
15 by 8 inches, on a museum mount
Estimated sale price: $1,800 to $2,200
This ancient relative of the squid is approximately 100 million years old. With a shape that is similar to the chambered nautilus, the ammonite, a sea creature that was fossilized, is “one of the most pleasing, eye-catching forms found in nature,” Lindgren says. “I’ve seen this shape used in everything from ancient art to the logos of companies. It has a very natural aesthetic appeal. There’s something calming about looking at a spiral. “
Found in Morocco, this piece is unusual for its size and perfect fossilization. “Most ammonites are found in a tightly coiled form, and when they are uncoiled as this one is, they don’t tend to be found in one piece,” Lindgren explains. “Usually they’re partial or broken up. That’s what’s so special about this one. This is a truly spectacular presentation, with everything intact.”