2008-10-09 - Ebay incredible fossils of the week !!! (Fossili, asta)

1st place

Nothosaurus sp. fossil skeleton dinosaur age

US $350,000.00

Nothosaurus sp. fossil skeleton.

Location China

386cm x 75cm (slab), 455cm x182cm(frame) (12.66 feet x 2.46 feet slab, 14.92 feet x 5.97 feet with frame)

dinosaur_scott( 743)

2nd place

Protoceratops Dinosaur fossil skeleton

US $129,000.00

Skeleton measures 120cm (3.93 feet) in length

Discovered in Mongolia.

 

dinosaur_scott( 743)

3rd place

Prenocephale Pachycephalosaur Dinosaur Fossil skeleton

US $350,000.00 

Museum quality Prenocephale sp. fossil skeleton.

This skeleton was discovered in Mongolia, and measures 5.25ft (160cm) in length. This is one of my favorite skeletons. It is very rare, especially in this part of the world. The seller is motivated and will consider offers

Prenocephale was a small pachycephalosaurid dinosaur genus from the Late Cretaceous and was similar in many ways to its close relative, Homalocephale. Prenocephale probably weighed around 130 kilograms and was around 2m to 3m long. Unlike the flattened wedge-shaped skull of Homalocephale, the head of Prenocephale was rounded and sloping. It lived in what is now Mongolia.

dinosaur_scott( 743)

4th place

Real Fossilized Mummified Edmontosaurus Dinosaur Skin

US $4,000.00 

This is a piece of actual fossilized mummified dinosaur skin found with the upper limb bones of an Edmontosaurus.  It was found in Eastern Montana, Hell Creek Formation.  It is large at 5 1/2″ x 2 1/4″ approximately.    This is NOT merely fossilized skin impressions, which also are quite rare; this is actual fossilized MUMMIFIED skin WHICH IS AS RARE AS IT GETS for dinosaur fossils.  This specimen perfectly demonstrates that it is the actual positive fossil from mummified tissue extremely well.  Notice the edge-on photos which show the highly 3-dimensional preservation of the scales.  The scales are seen in high relief and exhibit a variety of sizes and shapes.  The entire fossil has a smooth lengthwise curvature, preserving perfectly the shape of the forelimb.  The scales themselves have beautifully preserved texture and the black color, which is totally natural, provides excellent color contrast.  I believe the black color of these scales is likely not the actual preserved original living color, but is likely due to carbon preservation of bacterial mats, which is how skin, hair, feathers and other soft tissue are usually preserved as fossils. 

How might a dinosaur become mummified?  It would seem to require a rare sequence of unlikely events.  The dinosaur would have to die and its carcass would have to be left largely untouched by scavangers.  It would have to be exposed to extreme dryness for a very long time and it would have to dry out to the point of becoming very hard, including the soft tissues and internal organs.    One scenario that has been put forth is that it would be lying on a spit of sand in the middle of a stream.  (Still, it would seem to me vulnerable to crocodiles and pterosaurs.)  Next, it would have to become rapidly buried, perhaps carried downstream in a flood and buried in sand, and through permineralization, the mummy would become fossilized.  Only a few dinosaur mummies have been found and they are considered among the rarest and most valuable of all dinosaur fossils.  The most famous dinosaur mummy was an Edmontosaurus, described by Henry Fairfield Osborn in 1912, AMNH 5060, residing at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.  And, as pointed out by Osborn regarding AMNH 5060, “There is no remnent of actual skin preserved only its imprint.”  The lucky purchaser of this fossil will have a dinosaur mummy skin fossil superior to that found on the most famous dinosaur mummy!

This is about as good as fossilized skin gets: Obvious 3-D preservation of scales, original preserved body contours, striking color contrast, and superb detail.  I trust you will not find a higher quality piece of dinosaur mummified skin anywhere on the web, on a National Geographic Special, in a book, and maybe not in any museum!  Touching this as as close as it gets to touching a living dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous! 

bruce55( 315)

see more on Ebay (link)

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