Sciences
See also : Ancient science Sciences from 1800 Medicine Physics Astronomy Dinosaur Books Fine books 1700-1850 Autograph Italy II
Chronology : 16th century 1500-1519 1820-1829 1830-1839 1987
Chronology : 16th century 1500-1519 1820-1829 1830-1839 1987
1510 The Codex Leicester of Leonardo da Vinci
1994 SOLD for $ 31M including premium by Christie's
narrated in 2020
From 1475 Leonardo da Vinci recorded everyday all his ideas about the nature of the world in its whole variety, in the form of notes in ancient Italian language illustrated with sketches. In this polygraphic bulimia, he accumulated about 13,000 pages, on double-sided sheets folded in half.
Leonardo is neither a scientist nor an engineer in the modern meaning of these terms. He does not waste his time analyzing the consequences of his theories or conceiving the realization of his inventions. In his swarming of ideas, he could be wonderfully right and naively wrong, and he was certainly unable to distinguish between these two extremes.
For this left-hander, the mirror writing is the way he has found so that his thinking is not slowed down by his hand. The use of numerous abbreviations, which makes these texts extremely difficult to decipher, is consistent with this hypothesis. We will never know how he desired exploiting such a unique mass of informations.
These writings were later assembled into notebooks, identified under the more technical term of codex. The Codex Leicester is the only one remaining in private hands. It was sold twice by Christie's, for $ 5.1M on December 12, 1980 and for $ 31M including premium on November 11, 1994. Between these two sales it was named the Codex Hammer. It was bought by Bill Gates at the last auction. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The Codex Leicester is made up of 18 double sheets of parchment for a total of 72 pages 22 x 30 cm. It brings together his notes written around 1510 on the theme of the water movements. The author imagines that his ideas could be used for the design of bridges.
His observation on the presence of fossils in the mountains brings an explanation far ahead of his time : they were originally in a seabed which was raised by a geophysical phenomenon. This hypothesis is all the more remarkable since the monotheistic religions of his time do not question the creationism.
In the same notebook, he explains the luminosity of the Moon by the reflection of sunlight on its surface entirely covered with water.
Leonardo is neither a scientist nor an engineer in the modern meaning of these terms. He does not waste his time analyzing the consequences of his theories or conceiving the realization of his inventions. In his swarming of ideas, he could be wonderfully right and naively wrong, and he was certainly unable to distinguish between these two extremes.
For this left-hander, the mirror writing is the way he has found so that his thinking is not slowed down by his hand. The use of numerous abbreviations, which makes these texts extremely difficult to decipher, is consistent with this hypothesis. We will never know how he desired exploiting such a unique mass of informations.
These writings were later assembled into notebooks, identified under the more technical term of codex. The Codex Leicester is the only one remaining in private hands. It was sold twice by Christie's, for $ 5.1M on December 12, 1980 and for $ 31M including premium on November 11, 1994. Between these two sales it was named the Codex Hammer. It was bought by Bill Gates at the last auction. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The Codex Leicester is made up of 18 double sheets of parchment for a total of 72 pages 22 x 30 cm. It brings together his notes written around 1510 on the theme of the water movements. The author imagines that his ideas could be used for the design of bridges.
His observation on the presence of fossils in the mountains brings an explanation far ahead of his time : they were originally in a seabed which was raised by a geophysical phenomenon. This hypothesis is all the more remarkable since the monotheistic religions of his time do not question the creationism.
In the same notebook, he explains the luminosity of the Moon by the reflection of sunlight on its surface entirely covered with water.
1827-1838 Audubon by Subscription
2010 SOLD 7.3 M£ including premium
Two books, or better two events, from a single collection are waiting for bibliophiles in the sale at Sotheby's in London on December 7: the First Folio of Shakespeare and Audubon's Birds of America.
Let's start with the birds. We already know them in the Prints group. Here is (slightly modified) how I summarized the importance of this work:
Lovers of top auctions remember the outstanding results obtained by Christie's in New York on the major work of Audubon, The Birds of America. The four volumes contain 435 hand colored etchings.
These prints are in double elephant folio size, the largest known format for an illustrated book: 100 x 67 cm. The gigantic size is related to the goal that John James Audubon managed for the great work of his life: he wanted all his birds being displayed in their natural habitat in life size, even for the largest. This American had to travel to England to find a publisher: he was Robert Havell, in London. The publication spanned twelve years (1827-1838). Such a duration was not unusual at this time for ambitious books.
The highest price achieved at Christie's, $ 8.8 million including premium, was recorded on March 10, 2000 on a copy constituted by subscription, whose colors remained remarkably fresh.
The copy for sale by Sotheby's, estimated £ 4M, has similar qualities. It was collected by the eleventh subscriber in Audubon's ledger, a paleobotanist from Edinburgh who was convinced of the value of the project during a wine party with the author.
POST SALE COMMENT
Great success for this outstanding book: £ 7.3 million including premium.
Let's start with the birds. We already know them in the Prints group. Here is (slightly modified) how I summarized the importance of this work:
Lovers of top auctions remember the outstanding results obtained by Christie's in New York on the major work of Audubon, The Birds of America. The four volumes contain 435 hand colored etchings.
These prints are in double elephant folio size, the largest known format for an illustrated book: 100 x 67 cm. The gigantic size is related to the goal that John James Audubon managed for the great work of his life: he wanted all his birds being displayed in their natural habitat in life size, even for the largest. This American had to travel to England to find a publisher: he was Robert Havell, in London. The publication spanned twelve years (1827-1838). Such a duration was not unusual at this time for ambitious books.
The highest price achieved at Christie's, $ 8.8 million including premium, was recorded on March 10, 2000 on a copy constituted by subscription, whose colors remained remarkably fresh.
The copy for sale by Sotheby's, estimated £ 4M, has similar qualities. It was collected by the eleventh subscriber in Audubon's ledger, a paleobotanist from Edinburgh who was convinced of the value of the project during a wine party with the author.
POST SALE COMMENT
Great success for this outstanding book: £ 7.3 million including premium.
1827-1838 The Grocer of Louisville
2019 SOLD for $ 6.6M including premium
In 1807 two young Frenchmen open a general store in Louisville, Kentucky. Jean-Jacques Audubon cannot concentrate on his work. He is passionate about hunting and bird watching. He takes the US citizenship in 1812 and anglicizes his first name as John James.
He is early trained in taxidermy and participates in one of the earliest attempts of bird ringing. His method is unprecedented. He kills his specimen with a shotgun and straightens it in a natural pose with a wire. Then he draws it life size, often with its female or its prey. He never draws from a stuffed bird.
Audubon goes bankrupt in 1819. Against the advice of his friends but with the support of his wife, he decides to publish his work. American learned societies repel this man from the woods who had ridiculed one of their honorable fellows. In 1826, right in the romantic period, he arrives in England with his collection of watercolors.
The work to be done is colossal. He wants to maintain the 97 x 66 cm format of his drawing sheets but no book has ever been printed in such a big size. The plates should be colored one by one by hand. The only solution is the subscription. He finds in Edinburgh in 1827 a printer, Lizars, to carry out the work. A first booklet of 10 plates, numbered from I to X, is prepared.
There will be no second issue by Lizars, following a strike of the colorists. The business is now entrusted to Havell in London, until the 435th and final plate in 1838. The five volumes of texts are published separately in octavo format between 1831 and 1839.
On December 18 in New York, Sotheby's sells a complete set, in very good condition despite the obscuring of some captions by the binding. It was formed for the subscription of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society received by Audubon in April 1827. Plates I, III, and V to X are in the first state printed by Lizars.
This lot was sold for £ 1.76M including premium by Sotheby's on June 21, 1990. It is now estimated $ 6M, lot 1. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The complete copy assembled around 1838 for the Duke of Portland with some remaining stock includes all the first ten plates in the Lizars edition and is in perfect condition. It was sold for $ 9.7M including premium by Christie's on June 14, 2018. A full set in its original binding, resulting from one of the very first subscriptions, was sold for £ 7.3M including premium by Sotheby's on December 7, 2010.
He is early trained in taxidermy and participates in one of the earliest attempts of bird ringing. His method is unprecedented. He kills his specimen with a shotgun and straightens it in a natural pose with a wire. Then he draws it life size, often with its female or its prey. He never draws from a stuffed bird.
Audubon goes bankrupt in 1819. Against the advice of his friends but with the support of his wife, he decides to publish his work. American learned societies repel this man from the woods who had ridiculed one of their honorable fellows. In 1826, right in the romantic period, he arrives in England with his collection of watercolors.
The work to be done is colossal. He wants to maintain the 97 x 66 cm format of his drawing sheets but no book has ever been printed in such a big size. The plates should be colored one by one by hand. The only solution is the subscription. He finds in Edinburgh in 1827 a printer, Lizars, to carry out the work. A first booklet of 10 plates, numbered from I to X, is prepared.
There will be no second issue by Lizars, following a strike of the colorists. The business is now entrusted to Havell in London, until the 435th and final plate in 1838. The five volumes of texts are published separately in octavo format between 1831 and 1839.
On December 18 in New York, Sotheby's sells a complete set, in very good condition despite the obscuring of some captions by the binding. It was formed for the subscription of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society received by Audubon in April 1827. Plates I, III, and V to X are in the first state printed by Lizars.
This lot was sold for £ 1.76M including premium by Sotheby's on June 21, 1990. It is now estimated $ 6M, lot 1. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The complete copy assembled around 1838 for the Duke of Portland with some remaining stock includes all the first ten plates in the Lizars edition and is in perfect condition. It was sold for $ 9.7M including premium by Christie's on June 14, 2018. A full set in its original binding, resulting from one of the very first subscriptions, was sold for £ 7.3M including premium by Sotheby's on December 7, 2010.
1838 The Birds of the Dukes of Portland
2018 SOLD for $ 9.7M including premium
The copy of The Birds of America by Audubon owned until 2012 by the Dukes of Portland is one of the finest in existence. It was sold for $ 8M including premium by Christie's in New York on January 20, 2012, lot 1.
It is now estimated $ 8M for sale in the same auction room on June 14 as lot 1, as a charity to benefit the conservation of the natural environment.
I narrated it as follows in 2012 :
The complete version of Audubon's The Birds of America, published in London, includes 435 plates engraved from 1827 to 1838, hand-colored from the watercolors of the author and bound in four volumes. Made in a quite large 'double elephant' folio format 98 x 65 cm, it is the masterpiece of illustrated books. All birds were carefully illustrated in life size.
The introduction at auction of a full version in good condition is an event. Two of these prestigious copies came from original deliveries by subscription. They were respectively sold for $ 8.8 million including premium at Christie's on March 10, 2000 and for £ 7.3 million including premium by Sotheby's on December 7, 2010.
At the end of the operation, Audubon's list included 161 subscribers. Its printers, Lizars and Havell, had planned it slightly wider, and it is likely that a few remaining copies have been assembled in volumes in 1838 for new customers while retaining the chronological order of publication.
The copy from the library of the Dukes of Portland is probably one of those assembled without subscription, and it remained in exceptionally fine condition. It may be considered like an original edition by the bibliophiles as most of the first plates are in first state, as evidenced by watermarks and through the variants in the legends. The five octavo volumes of texts are included in the lot.
It is now estimated $ 8M for sale in the same auction room on June 14 as lot 1, as a charity to benefit the conservation of the natural environment.
I narrated it as follows in 2012 :
The complete version of Audubon's The Birds of America, published in London, includes 435 plates engraved from 1827 to 1838, hand-colored from the watercolors of the author and bound in four volumes. Made in a quite large 'double elephant' folio format 98 x 65 cm, it is the masterpiece of illustrated books. All birds were carefully illustrated in life size.
The introduction at auction of a full version in good condition is an event. Two of these prestigious copies came from original deliveries by subscription. They were respectively sold for $ 8.8 million including premium at Christie's on March 10, 2000 and for £ 7.3 million including premium by Sotheby's on December 7, 2010.
At the end of the operation, Audubon's list included 161 subscribers. Its printers, Lizars and Havell, had planned it slightly wider, and it is likely that a few remaining copies have been assembled in volumes in 1838 for new customers while retaining the chronological order of publication.
The copy from the library of the Dukes of Portland is probably one of those assembled without subscription, and it remained in exceptionally fine condition. It may be considered like an original edition by the bibliophiles as most of the first plates are in first state, as evidenced by watermarks and through the variants in the legends. The five octavo volumes of texts are included in the lot.
The Portland #Audubon sold @ChristiesBKS yesterday for $9.65m (£7.3m) https://t.co/pJYO1dvSvR pic.twitter.com/cg87wWs7kI
— Liam Sims (@liamsims) June 15, 2018
LA friends, this weekend is your chance to see the monumental Portland Audubon up close and personal! Visit our Los Angeles galleries 26-28 April, 10am-6pm. More info here: https://t.co/0nZ4p13E2v pic.twitter.com/aYaQlTbrF5
— Christie's Books (@ChristiesBKS) April 25, 2018
1913 Relativity by Einstein and Besso
2021 SOLD for € 11.7M by Aguttes-Perrine
Albert Einstein early appreciated that physics is a complex inter-relation between the basic concepts of light, electricity, energy, inertia, mass. He therefore brings a modern view to Newton's works.
In physics it is not uneasy to propose theories and equations. None of them is valid until it is verified by an experience.
There was a discrepancy in the application of Newton's universal gravitation theory : the orbit of Mercury, the nearest planet to the sun, is not perfectly elliptic. The tiny discrepancy is 43 seconds of arc per century at the perihelion.
In June 1913 in Zurich, Einstein and his lifelong friend Michele Besso manage a working session on the Mercury issue. Einstein's unprecedented intuition is that the gravity must be distorted by the rotation.
The two friends create and test equations in a method of trial and error. None of them matches the expected result of 43 seconds per century. After some additions in early 1914, Besso keeps their working notes.
This autograph draft document is made of 54 pages on 37 loose sheets 21 x 27 cm in equal parts by Einstein and Besso. It was sold for $ 560K by Christie's on October 4, 2002, lot 81. Coming from the Aristophil judicial liquidation, it was sold for € 11.7M from a lower estimate of € 2M by Aguttes et Perrine supported by Christie's on November 23, 2021, lot A. Please watch the video prepared by Christie's.
Einstein is persistent. He manages to refine the parameters and establish the suitable "Einstein field equations", thus releasing in 1915 a refined theory of gravitation known as the general relativity which is still today the basic of cosmology.
In physics it is not uneasy to propose theories and equations. None of them is valid until it is verified by an experience.
There was a discrepancy in the application of Newton's universal gravitation theory : the orbit of Mercury, the nearest planet to the sun, is not perfectly elliptic. The tiny discrepancy is 43 seconds of arc per century at the perihelion.
In June 1913 in Zurich, Einstein and his lifelong friend Michele Besso manage a working session on the Mercury issue. Einstein's unprecedented intuition is that the gravity must be distorted by the rotation.
The two friends create and test equations in a method of trial and error. None of them matches the expected result of 43 seconds per century. After some additions in early 1914, Besso keeps their working notes.
This autograph draft document is made of 54 pages on 37 loose sheets 21 x 27 cm in equal parts by Einstein and Besso. It was sold for $ 560K by Christie's on October 4, 2002, lot 81. Coming from the Aristophil judicial liquidation, it was sold for € 11.7M from a lower estimate of € 2M by Aguttes et Perrine supported by Christie's on November 23, 2021, lot A. Please watch the video prepared by Christie's.
Einstein is persistent. He manages to refine the parameters and establish the suitable "Einstein field equations", thus releasing in 1915 a refined theory of gravitation known as the general relativity which is still today the basic of cosmology.
1953 The Release of the Secret of Life
2013 SOLD for $ 6M by Christie's
The day after the announcement of the sale of Francis Crick's Nobel medal by Heritage, discussed yesterday in this column, Christie's issued a press release about an extraordinary document of the same origin, to be sold by them in New York on April 10.
Through a mathematical approach to X-Ray views that had been difficult to analyze, Crick and Watson built the model of the double helix of DNA. Copernicus had used a somehow similar method to raise the heliocentric hypothesis when seeking to simplify an apparently too complex data.
Very excited (as he told it), Crick could not keep the secret. The listener is well chosen: he explains with great foresight the result and its consequences in a seven-page handwritten letter dated 19 March 1953 to his son Michael then twelve years old, a college student out of home for his school time.
This first digest work of one of the greatest discoveries is signed Daddy. We see with great pleasure that this research was an actual team work honoring equally the two scientists, "Jim" Watson and Daddy. The schematic diagram of the double helix has a beautiful clarity.
On April 2, Watson and Crick submitted the first official text to the professional review Nature, which published it on April 25. The contrast is striking between the enthusiasm of Daddy's letter and the short and careful scientific release, not illustrated, soberly explaining that the fundamental breakthrough of the new theory is the relative position of the chemical elements in the molecule.
Their theory was right, and was soon validated by all biochemists in the world. Daddy's letter is a true treasure in the history of science, unparalleled except perhaps by some letters from Einstein. The estimate is quite open: $ 1M to 2M.
POST SALE COMMENT
This document is extraordinary and certainly unique. One of the most important discoveries of our time is announced in a letter to a child before being published in the specialized journals. Emotion takes its place alongside the scientific rigor.
This manuscript is recognized as one of the greatest releases in the history of science: $ 6.05 million including premium.
Here is the link to the catalogue.
Through a mathematical approach to X-Ray views that had been difficult to analyze, Crick and Watson built the model of the double helix of DNA. Copernicus had used a somehow similar method to raise the heliocentric hypothesis when seeking to simplify an apparently too complex data.
Very excited (as he told it), Crick could not keep the secret. The listener is well chosen: he explains with great foresight the result and its consequences in a seven-page handwritten letter dated 19 March 1953 to his son Michael then twelve years old, a college student out of home for his school time.
This first digest work of one of the greatest discoveries is signed Daddy. We see with great pleasure that this research was an actual team work honoring equally the two scientists, "Jim" Watson and Daddy. The schematic diagram of the double helix has a beautiful clarity.
On April 2, Watson and Crick submitted the first official text to the professional review Nature, which published it on April 25. The contrast is striking between the enthusiasm of Daddy's letter and the short and careful scientific release, not illustrated, soberly explaining that the fundamental breakthrough of the new theory is the relative position of the chemical elements in the molecule.
Their theory was right, and was soon validated by all biochemists in the world. Daddy's letter is a true treasure in the history of science, unparalleled except perhaps by some letters from Einstein. The estimate is quite open: $ 1M to 2M.
POST SALE COMMENT
This document is extraordinary and certainly unique. One of the most important discoveries of our time is announced in a letter to a child before being published in the specialized journals. Emotion takes its place alongside the scientific rigor.
This manuscript is recognized as one of the greatest releases in the history of science: $ 6.05 million including premium.
Here is the link to the catalogue.
1987 The King of Badlands
2020 SOLD for $ 32M including premium
The successive discoveries of tyrannosaur fossil skeletons allow us to better understand the characteristics of this beast which lived at the end of the Cretaceous just before the final disaster of that era 66 million years ago. Stan is one of the specimens which provided the most elements to these analyzes.
We have to face the facts : the tyrannosaurus, a distant successor to the allosaurus, had characteristics much more efficient than humans, in terms of sight and smell, running speed, strength and appetite. I have no reliable data about its intelligence.
The deposits are mainly concentrated on the Hell Creek Formation, an island continent bordering Montana, the Dakotas and Wyoming. The distribution of the species was certainly wider, but the swamps of these Badlands originally limited the dispersal of the skeletons and provided good conditions for fossilization. More than 50 specimens have been found.
Hell Creek has been known since the beginning of the 20th century as a reservoir of tyrannosaurs. It was an amateur prospector who discovered in 1987 the hip bones of a specimen that was given his own first name, Stan. An error in paleontological interpretation delayed the researches. The excavation required 30,000 hours of work between 1992 and 1995. This male tyrannosaurus, approximately 70% complete in mass, is one of the largest specimens, measuring 11.3 m between the muzzle and the tip of the tail.
Traces on the bones provide valuable informations on the life of prehistoric animals. Stan had lesions created by the teeth of other tyrannosaurs. His broken neck had been healed by fusion of two injured vertebrae. He ate an edmontosaurus and a triceratops just before his death. In our time he plays the stars with more than 60 complete casts for use in museums and exhibitions.
The fossil includes 188 original pieces, compared with the 350 bones of a complete animal. The skull is almost perfect. Missing elements are represented by casts. It will be sold without a reserve price by Christie's in New York on October 6, lot 59 estimated $ 6M. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Stan deserves a similar notoriety as Sue, the 12.3 m long male tyrannosaurus found by a lady named Sue in 1990, which was sold for $ 8.4M including premium by Sotheby's on October 4, 1997.
We have to face the facts : the tyrannosaurus, a distant successor to the allosaurus, had characteristics much more efficient than humans, in terms of sight and smell, running speed, strength and appetite. I have no reliable data about its intelligence.
The deposits are mainly concentrated on the Hell Creek Formation, an island continent bordering Montana, the Dakotas and Wyoming. The distribution of the species was certainly wider, but the swamps of these Badlands originally limited the dispersal of the skeletons and provided good conditions for fossilization. More than 50 specimens have been found.
Hell Creek has been known since the beginning of the 20th century as a reservoir of tyrannosaurs. It was an amateur prospector who discovered in 1987 the hip bones of a specimen that was given his own first name, Stan. An error in paleontological interpretation delayed the researches. The excavation required 30,000 hours of work between 1992 and 1995. This male tyrannosaurus, approximately 70% complete in mass, is one of the largest specimens, measuring 11.3 m between the muzzle and the tip of the tail.
Traces on the bones provide valuable informations on the life of prehistoric animals. Stan had lesions created by the teeth of other tyrannosaurs. His broken neck had been healed by fusion of two injured vertebrae. He ate an edmontosaurus and a triceratops just before his death. In our time he plays the stars with more than 60 complete casts for use in museums and exhibitions.
The fossil includes 188 original pieces, compared with the 350 bones of a complete animal. The skull is almost perfect. Missing elements are represented by casts. It will be sold without a reserve price by Christie's in New York on October 6, lot 59 estimated $ 6M. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Stan deserves a similar notoriety as Sue, the 12.3 m long male tyrannosaurus found by a lady named Sue in 1990, which was sold for $ 8.4M including premium by Sotheby's on October 4, 1997.
#AuctionUpdate @ChristiesInc sets a #WorldAuctionRecord for a #TyrannosaurusRex named #STAN which sold for $31,847,500 #crushing the estimate of $6-8M. pic.twitter.com/0QM9iWMKjt
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) October 7, 2020
1990 Sue the Tyrannosaurus
1997 SOLD for $ 8.4M including premium by Sotheby's
narrated in 2020
On August 12, 1990 a team of paleontologists completed an excavation campaign in the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Upon leaving, they notice that a tire of the truck is flat. Sue Hendrickson takes advantage of this downtime to go to a cliff unexplored by the group. She finds the fossil remains of a tyrannosaurus rex that will be identified by her first name, Sue.
The bones had not been scattered. The animal had lived about 67 million years ago and probably died in a stream of water that pushed it against some obstacle.
The tyrannosaurus is the most spectacular of the dinosaurs, and Sue was the largest and most complete specimen at the time of its excavation. The skeleton is 90% complete by mass and 73% by the number of elements. The cranial fossil weighs 270 kg and is 1.40 m long and the teeth are almost intact.
The owner of the land, a member of the Sioux tribe, claimed that the team had paid him the right to take and clean up the fossil, but not the transfer of ownership. Justice follows and he becomes the sole owner of Sue. He then commissioned Sotheby's to manage the auction. Due to Sue's exceptional scientific interest, paleontologists were worried about the risk of purchase for a private collection.
Nothing equivalent had happened on the market. On October 4, 1997 the bidding was started at $ 500K. Sue was sold for $ 8.4M including premium to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.
At the time of the sale, this dinosaur had been identified as exceptional but had never been mounted. Its exhibition at the Field Museum was inaugurated in May 2000. Scientific investigations have not been interrupted. The age of the animal is estimated at 28 years, making it until 2013 the dean of the tyrannosaurs. It was 12.30 m long and 4 m high at the hips and its weight in life was estimated at about 10 tons.
The image is shared by Wikimedia with attribution to the user Zissoudisctrucker. It shows Sue in its most recent display configuration at the Field Museum.
The bones had not been scattered. The animal had lived about 67 million years ago and probably died in a stream of water that pushed it against some obstacle.
The tyrannosaurus is the most spectacular of the dinosaurs, and Sue was the largest and most complete specimen at the time of its excavation. The skeleton is 90% complete by mass and 73% by the number of elements. The cranial fossil weighs 270 kg and is 1.40 m long and the teeth are almost intact.
The owner of the land, a member of the Sioux tribe, claimed that the team had paid him the right to take and clean up the fossil, but not the transfer of ownership. Justice follows and he becomes the sole owner of Sue. He then commissioned Sotheby's to manage the auction. Due to Sue's exceptional scientific interest, paleontologists were worried about the risk of purchase for a private collection.
Nothing equivalent had happened on the market. On October 4, 1997 the bidding was started at $ 500K. Sue was sold for $ 8.4M including premium to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.
At the time of the sale, this dinosaur had been identified as exceptional but had never been mounted. Its exhibition at the Field Museum was inaugurated in May 2000. Scientific investigations have not been interrupted. The age of the animal is estimated at 28 years, making it until 2013 the dean of the tyrannosaurs. It was 12.30 m long and 4 m high at the hips and its weight in life was estimated at about 10 tons.
The image is shared by Wikimedia with attribution to the user Zissoudisctrucker. It shows Sue in its most recent display configuration at the Field Museum.
2013-2014 Hector the Deinonychus
2022 SOLD for $ 12.4M by Christie's
Dame Nature created twice the most terrific beasts, the allosaur in the Upper Jurassic 155 million years ago and the Tyrannosaur at the end of the Cretaceous 66 million years ago. Elderly specimens from both species could grow up to more than 10 m from muzzle to tail's end.
In the mean time the carnivorous dinosaurs had not lost their domination over their territories in current day Wyoming and Montana, in a favorable environment of tropical and sub-tropical forests, lagoons, swamps, and river deltas. One of them, living during the early (lower) Cretaceous 110 million years ago, was the 3.40 m long deinonychus, a wording describing its 5-inch impaling claws.
A detailed study of a deinonychus in the 1960s led to reconsider the opinion about the behavior of the carnivorous giants, from then considered to be agile and fast in their horizontal running posture with stretched tail, so obsoleting the slow standing of the previous popular imagery. Its unusually long stretched arms were used in the attack and the large optic lobes attest for a sharp eyesight. Wrongly identified as the Velociraptor, this species became one of the star dinosaurs in the Jurassic Park franchise.
A 3 m long fossil made of 126 remaining bones was excavated in Montana in 2013-2014. Named Hector in reference to the Iliad warrior, it was sold for $ 12.4M from a lower estimate of $ 4M by Christie's on May 12, 2022, lot 57C.
Further research on the physical capabilities of the deinonychus could help to model the transition from reptile to bird through the archaeopteryx, in the Jurassic, 40 million years earlier.
In the mean time the carnivorous dinosaurs had not lost their domination over their territories in current day Wyoming and Montana, in a favorable environment of tropical and sub-tropical forests, lagoons, swamps, and river deltas. One of them, living during the early (lower) Cretaceous 110 million years ago, was the 3.40 m long deinonychus, a wording describing its 5-inch impaling claws.
A detailed study of a deinonychus in the 1960s led to reconsider the opinion about the behavior of the carnivorous giants, from then considered to be agile and fast in their horizontal running posture with stretched tail, so obsoleting the slow standing of the previous popular imagery. Its unusually long stretched arms were used in the attack and the large optic lobes attest for a sharp eyesight. Wrongly identified as the Velociraptor, this species became one of the star dinosaurs in the Jurassic Park franchise.
A 3 m long fossil made of 126 remaining bones was excavated in Montana in 2013-2014. Named Hector in reference to the Iliad warrior, it was sold for $ 12.4M from a lower estimate of $ 4M by Christie's on May 12, 2022, lot 57C.
Further research on the physical capabilities of the deinonychus could help to model the transition from reptile to bird through the archaeopteryx, in the Jurassic, 40 million years earlier.
#AuctionUpdate In an exhilarating end to our Evening Sales, THE RAPTOR sold with a price realized of $12.4 million pic.twitter.com/uaVEkGtOmk
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) May 13, 2022
2014 Triceratops
2021 SOLD for € 6.7M by Binoche et Giquello
In the popular imagery, the quadruped herbivore dinosaur Triceratops is the heavily armored giant rival of the tyrannosaurus, around 66 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous.
A triceratops skull excavated in Hell Creek in 2018 is 2.20 m long and 85 cm wide with its eponymous forehead horns about 75 cm long was sold for $ 500K by Sotheby's on April 28, 2021, lot 1.
On October 21, 2021, Binoche et Giquello sold for € 6.7M from a lower estimate of € 1.2M the fossil of Big John, considered as the largest known full triceratops, lot 1. It is illustrated in the pre sale release shared by Drouot.
The skeleton made of nearly 200 bones is 7.15 m long and 2.70 m high at the hip. The skull is 2.62 m long and the two major horns are 1.10 m long on a 30 cm base. The skeleton is 75 % complete for the skull and more than 60 % complete overall.
Big John had been wounded and probably killed in battle as evidenced with a severe tear below the neck, made from the horn of a similar beast. It has been discovered in 2014 in South Dakota and cleaned at the Zoic workshop in Trieste. Its displayed position ready to charge is inspired from the Wall Street Bull.
A triceratops skull excavated in Hell Creek in 2018 is 2.20 m long and 85 cm wide with its eponymous forehead horns about 75 cm long was sold for $ 500K by Sotheby's on April 28, 2021, lot 1.
On October 21, 2021, Binoche et Giquello sold for € 6.7M from a lower estimate of € 1.2M the fossil of Big John, considered as the largest known full triceratops, lot 1. It is illustrated in the pre sale release shared by Drouot.
The skeleton made of nearly 200 bones is 7.15 m long and 2.70 m high at the hip. The skull is 2.62 m long and the two major horns are 1.10 m long on a 30 cm base. The skeleton is 75 % complete for the skull and more than 60 % complete overall.
Big John had been wounded and probably killed in battle as evidenced with a severe tear below the neck, made from the horn of a similar beast. It has been discovered in 2014 in South Dakota and cleaned at the Zoic workshop in Trieste. Its displayed position ready to charge is inspired from the Wall Street Bull.
6 651 100 € !
— Drouot (@Drouot) October 21, 2021
C’est le résultat aux enchères de Big John, le plus grand tricératops découvert à ce jour, sous le marteau de Maître Giquello □□
□□ @BGiquello pic.twitter.com/YKlg9Vgszl
Big John, le plus grand Tricératops connu, exposé à Paris avant d'être vendu aux enchères https://t.co/EVefTsVy9A pic.twitter.com/kaYyozB7Jn
— BFMTV (@BFMTV) August 30, 2021
