The only thing stopping academic researchers from studying it are the institutional norms they bind themselves to. ![]() Exerting control and legislating this problem will not improve access to fossils (see how helpful the PRPA has been to collectors?), will not lead to a widespread citizen-science ethic, and it will not help the communities these fossils come from (which are often rural and impoverished). That’s more than quite a lot of other fossil taxa - even some significant invertebrate fossils.Ĥ) you could approach it with that framework - but then who controls how such a specimen is treated? Where does it go? I would argue The best solution is distributist- where these resources are widely distributed and accessible to a wide variety of actors. rex is very rare is a gross overstatement. GPS coordinates are not good enough.ģ) that T. ![]() Very few museums and universities make detailed site maps. At any rate, there are numerous vertebrate and invertebrate fossils in museum collections that have less associated data. Any industry is about connections and networking.Ģ) fossils like this are very rarely without corresponding data. If I ever reconsider donation, I may be in touch.ġ) they absolutely did - through deliberate and stated efforts to ostracize people who collect fossils, and people who do not work in academia. Have a nice day.Ĭollector: That's a lot more complicated than I realized. ![]() If it goes on display, your name will be listed on the labels so the public will always know you donated the fossil. Your name would be permanently recorded with the specimen in the database forever. If you ever reconsider donation, please let us know. For museums, the prices demanded at auction equate to several years of staff wages, equipment and supply purchases, field season funds, collections maintenance, exhibit improvements, building maintenance, utility expenses, events, and endowment fund contributions (to name a few).They cannot justify allocating such a large portion of their operating budget to a single specimen.Most museums don't purchase vertebrate fossils because for several reasons: There may also be potential issues with the integrity of the data trail (locality and excavation data, element catalogue, specimen number, preparation records), or undocumented treatments to make the specimen appear more complete to increase sale value to buyers.ĭonating the specimen to a repository ensures continued access to researchers and the public, as well as appropriate storage conditions and conservation materials to treat and preserve the specimen for our posterity. A private owner is under no obligation to allow free research access to a specimen in perpetuity. Access to private specimens is at the courtesy of the owner. It is one of the stipulations for being a repository of fossils collected on state and federal lands. Researchers have equal access to specimens in museums. Paleontologist: Because research methods must be reproduceable. Paleontologist: Sure! You have to donate it to our institution thoughĬollector: Could you study it and give it back? It was expensive and means a lot to me Had this skull been offered at auction back in 2019 before Stan the estimate probably would’ve been something more like $3M-$5M, and this sale is likely an indication that it’s coming back down to those levels.Ĭollector: Could you please study my fossil? So what you’ve got are fewer potential buyers, more supply and inflated prices combining to correct what was essentially a market bubble. Problem is 2020 & 2021 were big boom years for the art & auction market, but with the economic downturn this year there has been a correction and fewer people are spending huge money at the very top and prices aren’t being driven quite as high - so the already very small market of people with both an interest and the means to pay 8 figures for a dino got that much smaller (plus the buyers of Stan & Deinonychus for example aren’t likely to buy another, so may be out too). The pre-sale estimates also got overinflated (Stan was “only” estimated at $6M-$8M before the sale) because of those big prices as auction houses based those on previous comparables in the market. Other private owners saw the $30M+ number and decided they could also capitalize, like the Deinonychus sold the following year. After Christie’s sold Stan back in 2020 and made such a huge price the market definitely got over-saturated.
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