Dinosaur nest and eggs fetch $420,000
Published December 4th, 2006
An unusually well-preserved 65-million-year-old dinosaur nest containing fossil eggs sold in an auction for nearly $420 000.
Auction house Bonhams & Butterfields had estimated the raptoid nest, which contained exposed embryos of the predators, would go for between $180 000 and $220 000, auction officials said.
Details of the buyer in Sunday’s transaction would be kept under wraps, said Jannelle Grigsby, a Bonhams spokesperson.
The Cretaceous-era nest was unearthed in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong in 1984 and eventually was sold to an American collector in 2003.
The collector restored the nest to museum quality, revealing embryonic remains of 19 eggs. Some eggs were so well-preserved that the curled up embryonic raptors were visible inside.
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