{"id":11746,"date":"2021-11-10T02:17:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-10T09:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/BigJimIndustries.com\/wordpress\/?p=11746"},"modified":"2023-01-27T14:53:02","modified_gmt":"2023-01-27T21:53:02","slug":"big-bucks-john","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/2021\/11\/10\/big-bucks-john\/","title":{"rendered":"“Big Bucks John”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

from National Geographic<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The controversial sale of ‘Big John,’ the world’s largest Triceratops<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The fossil’s $7.7-million sale has some experts worried that ancient bones’ rising prices will put more scientifically valuable fossils out of reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BY MICHAEL GRESHKO<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Auctioneer
Auctioneer Alexandre Giquello oversees the auction of the fossil Triceratops known as “Big John.” On October 21, Big John sold to an unidentified U.S. buyer for $7.7 million (6.65 million euros) including commissions. PHOTOGRAPH BY MICHEL STOUPAK, NURPHOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Walter Stein was exploring a ranch in Perkins County, South Dakota, in 2014 when he stumbled across a root-covered set of bones that had tumbled out of an eroding hillside. Stein realized he was looking at the horns of a Triceratops<\/em>, and despite the horns\u2019 weathered condition, he could tell that they belonged to a big one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The founder of a South Dakotan firm called PaleoAdventures<\/a>, which digs up fossils for commercial sale, Stein nicknamed the fossil \u201cBig John\u201d after the owner of the ranch where he found it. For six years, he held on to the Triceratops<\/em> in hopes that a U.S. museum would purchase it\u2014but none came forward. Then, in 2020, he sold the fossil to an Italian firm that prepared it for auction. With much fanfare and a jaw-dropping sale price of $7.7 million (6.65 million euros) to an anonymous buyer last month, Big John became a big deal\u2014and added fuel to an ongoing, thorny debate among scientists, auctioneers, commercial paleontologists, and private landowners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big John is just the latest high-profile fossil to sell for millions of dollars. A little more than a year ago,\u00a0a scientifically important\u00a0T. rex\u00a0<\/em>skeleton called Stan sold to an anonymous buyer<\/a>\u00a0in a court-mandated auction for $31.8 million\u2014the most ever paid for a fossil. Some scientists are worried that the growing prices for ancient bones could drive future fossils into private collections, preventing researchers from studying the irreplaceable remains. (Venture inside the homes\u2014and minds\u2014of private fossil collectors in\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/a>National Geographic<\/a><\/a>\u00a0magazine<\/a><\/em>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[ click to continue reading at NG<\/a> ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

from National Geographic The controversial sale of ‘Big John,’ the world’s largest Triceratops The fossil’s $7.7-million sale has some experts worried that ancient bones’ rising prices will put more scientifically valuable fossils out of reach. BY MICHAEL GRESHKO Walter Stein was exploring a ranch in Perkins County, South Dakota, in 2014 when he stumbled across […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture-art"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11746\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}