Inside the multi-million pound Jurassic underworld: How oligarchs and the uber-rich are in a cut-throat race for trophy dinosaur bones – and criminals are cashing in

Steven Spielberg will be known as the great catalyst, which has become a rapidly expanding and controversial super luxury market forever.

The US film Mogul’s 1993 film Jurassic Park and the next franchise were interested in dinosaurs around the world and led to an increase in fossil trade.

And it has been going on since then. Let’s say you have a special jet and a helicopter, a yacht with full crew to the south of France, an original Picasso line drawing … What do you say to a 125 million -year -old dinosaur skeleton in the center of your marble hall?

Last month, such a skeleton brought more than $ 30 million for an offer madness in Sotheby’s in New York. Mounted young Ceratosaurus Nasicornis -150 million years ago, he had an auction of auction of $ 4 million to $ 6 million from Kimmeridgian era, because he is one of the four known skeletons and one child. Looks like Tyrannosaurus Rex But smaller.

The proposal started with an offer of $ 6 million, and then the official sales price got up until it reached $ 30.5 million thanks to an anonymous buyer. There were sharp breathing and those who were applauded in the room after the auction fell – but not everyone was happy.

The price tag for Paleontology and Evolution Professor Steve Brusatte at the University of Edinburgh is shocking.

“ Who has this kind of money to spend for dinosaur? It is definitely not any museums or educational institutions’. “ “ Although the skeleton to borrow a museum, even though I am pleased that it is only an ambiguous proposal at this point. My fear will be lost to the mansion of an oligarch or a bank safe to accumulate value as another investment in the portfolio of a hedge fund. ‘

An American Mr. Brusatte, who has warmed the theme and specializes in the anatomy and evolution of dinosaurs, said, ‘I’m worried about longer -term negative repercussions for museums and fossil collection. This fossil was exhibited in a private museum with a budget crisis and decided to sell it. Will this be a strategy when museums try to balance books and sell only dinosaurs to millionaires? ‘

Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park film was interested in dinosaurs around the world and led to an increase in fossil trade

Child Ceratosaurus Nasicornis Sold at Sotheby’s Natural History Auction in New York in July

Mr. Brusatte believes that a world in which dinosaur skeletons can bring tens of millions of dollars in auction in a few minutes is a world that does not understand the value of education and research. A victory for cup culture.

“These amazing skeletons will become games for Uber-Zengin, and he says in many ways in many ways, Brus says Brusatte.

It has a meaning. Last July, a dinosaur fossil called Apex was sold in Sotheby’s for $ 44.6 million and made headlines and became the most valuable sold in the auction so far.

Stegosaurus, 150 million, is measured at 11 feet length and about 27 feet lengths from nose to tail, and 254 fossil bones are almost complete skeleton.

And who was the buyer? Giant Hedge Fund is the founder of Citadel and CEO billionaire investor Ken Griffin. However, Griffin has done an honorable thing for the relief of the worldwide Paleontology community and delivered it to the American Natural History Museum for the next four years, so that it can be examined and used for public monitoring.

Then, there is the famous factor that returned to bite it in case of an Oscar -winning actor Nicolas Cage. A Tyrannosaurus paid £ 185,000 for Bataar skull ( T. RexAfter leaving the other Thespian behind in 2007, Leonardo DiCaprio, another well -known fossil collector Russell Crowe, watched the edges.

Even though Cage bought the skull from a Beverly Hills gallery and an original certificate was given, it turned out that it was stolen from Mongolia and returned to the government eight years later.

The rules vary significantly from country to country. In the US, the fossils found in the private land belong to the landowner, but as long as the landowner permits the search for the search, the finders in the UK are the guards.

Last year, Ken Griffin, a billionaire investor and hedge fund, bought a 150 million -year -old Stegosaurus in Sotheby’s for $ 44.6 million in Sotheby’s and made the most valuable so far.

Charmouth, dorset fossil hunters on the beach. The British interest in fossils dates back hundreds of years, but there was a limited understanding of what they were before the end of the 18th century. Usually accepted as ‘curiosity’

Legendary British fossil collector Steve Etches, ‘There are too many of them in this country’ as’ fossils’ we do not need more rules and regulations’ he says.

In Jurassic Coast in Dorset, the Fossils on the zone by the water line – the crown land of the monarch – can be held without permission, but those buried in the cliff face are thought to belong to the owner of the soil on the cliff.

Rules are much more strict in China, Mongolia, Brazil, Italy and France, regardless of that valuable fossils have land. The arrangements are also tight in Morocco, but rarely applied and there have been fossil examples stolen from government -controlled areas.

Sus Susannah Maidment, the chief researcher of fossil reptiles at the London Natural History Museum, said, “We need a reporting system in this country that you have to offer to a museum or other public organs, Dr

However, this argument was given a short period of time by the legendary British fossil collector Steve Etches, a legendary British fossil collector who founded the Dromes Collection Museum of Jurassic Marine Life in Kimmeteridge with the help of the Lottery Fund.

We don’t need more rules and regulation. There are many of them in this country, ” says Mr. Etches. “ There is nothing wrong in an open market, and if very rich people want to spend their money on rare fossils, it’s okay. They will probably go to a museum after the person dies. ‘

Mr Brusatte also against further arrangements: ‘more can lead to creating more black market.

‘This is a difficult issue, and what we really need is a cultural change in which those who are rich enough to buy dinosaurs donate them to museums and support science as part of buying these fossils.’

On the Western Dorset coast, ‘Fossil Collection Rules of Behavior’ ‘accepts that the basic need for fossil collection should be carried out in a way that satisfies everyone interested in our fossil heritage.’

Fossil hunters are asked to record special findings in Charmouth Heritage Coast Center – but the fossil continues to be the property of the person who finds it.

The British interest in fossils dates back hundreds of years, but there was a limited understanding of what they were before the end of the 18th century. It was generally accepted as ‘curiosity’.

At the beginning of the 19th century, Lyme Regis witnessed a major shift with the work of the famous Paleontologist and fossil collector Mary Anning, who carried out a successful business in Dorset. His story started the 2020 film Kate Winslet in Ammonite as Anning and Saoirse Ronan as a love interest.

Another turning point came in 1997 when Sotheby’s T. Rex fossil announced Sue’s name for $ 8.4 million and turned it into the most expensive fossil sold at that time. Sue was almost a complete skeleton – and not just an old bone collection.

Trade has developed since then, and today the luxury fossil market is worth billions of dollars.

Dr. Mark Westgarth, Professor of Leeds University Art Market, seems to be looking for “Pieces of Expression” at the top of the market. ‘Large -scale dinosaur fossils allow new “art” collectors to show their symbolic powers.’

But not only the rich who are more and more interested in fossils. I was at Jurassic Coast a few weeks ago. Most of the day rained on Sunday-However, Charmouth Beach (within the country’s first natural world heritage site and along the coast of Lyme Regis), was full of men, women and children who examined the coastal line in the search for treasury in the midst of the tap of fossil hammers.

If you had more editing, it would reduce people’s interest in fossils. Grant Field, the director of Charmouth Heritage Coast Center, does not trigger his imagination in the same way. `Now we receive more than 100,000 visitors a year and they find valuable things every day. A great way to introduce people to the natural world. ‘

All this is receiving £ 80 million tourist attraction at Jurassic Coast planned by former Daily Mail Science writer Michael Hanlon. With the support of Sir David Attenborough, who played the role of the boss, the museum would be built in a semi-Subterranean artificial cave in a 132FT deep quarry in Portland. Unfortunately, Mr. Hanlon died of a heart attack at the age of 51 in 2016 and his vision died with him.

Meanwhile, trade is doing a good job in the fossil shop under the heritage center. Forget these big price tags at the auction, some small fossils here sell one or two pounds. Then a woman enters and notices the shop door of the shop with crystals buried.

“Can I buy this?” He says by pointing to the stone.

You may have for anything. There is much more than that, ” says the shop owner looks at Jurassic Coast, which extends about 95 miles. ‘I bought it from the beach 15 meters away from the shop.’ ‘