Skeletons in the American Museum of Natural History
In a surprising turn of events, during Thanksgiving Weekend, Christie’s withdrew a valuable Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton from its planned sale. The skeleton was once marketed on the famed auction house’s website as the crown jewel of its Hong Kong sales. But it was removed after a paleontologist revealed that the set of bones up for bid violated copyright protections of replica bones.
To better understand the paleontologist’s claim, it is important to learn a bit about dinosaur skeletons as they appear in museums and on the art market. It is common industry practice to include both original and cosmetic (replica) bones when displaying a dinosaur skeleton. This is because complete dinosaur skeletons are hard to come by and even properly excavated bones are not in pristine condition. This combination of plastic and authentic dino parts acts as the dinosaur’s Instagram filter while on display for her adoring crowd.
Intellectual property rights may be held in the structure of the replica bones. This is what gave rise to Christie’s public withdrawal of the item. A lawyer for the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research in South Dakota contacted Christie’s with concerns that the dinosaur skeleton listed for sale infringed copyright protections held by Black Hills. Black Hills holds the copyrights to replica bones of a T. rex named Stan. Stan’s skeleton was sold by Christie’s in 2020 for a record-breaking $31.8 million. Black Hills currently uses the protections of Stan’s replica bones to make full-size polyurethane casts of the dinosaur. The casts are actually available for purchase for $120,000.
Black Hills’ counsel approached Christie’s after learning that the auction house had planned to sell a T. rex named Shen. Black Hills’ president, a paleontologist named Peter Larson, told CNN that Shen was primarily (“95% or more”) of the same replica bones that comprise Stan. If this were true, not only would selling Shen thus violate Black Hills’ intellectual property rights, but the potential buyer would grossly overpay for the skeleton. The anticipated sticker price for Shen was millions of dollars higher than the measly $120k price of Stan’s polyurethane bones in the Black Hills Institute catalog. It’s easy to see the problem: had Christie’s gone through with the planned sale, the buyer would have been misled into overpaying for a mostly inauthentic and infringing skeleton.
(In fact, this scenario raises questions about the authenticity of the skeleton. If an object is primarily comprised of replica pieces or is the result of extensive alternations or conservations, then should the auction house market list the lot as authentic? These same questions arise in the context of fine art and all collectibles.)
Christie’s panicked, and withdrew the item. However, copyright disputes over replica bones are not the only legal issues that arise when dealing with dinosaur fossils. More commonly, problems stem from the excavation of the bones themselves, and the legality of their sale and export to other countries.
Who collects dinosaurs?
Dinosaur skeletons as décor items are all the rage, the “it” gift to have at home. Take Leonardo DiCaprio, the long-reigning Hollywood A-lister, who made fossil-buying staggering cool by turning his collection of prehistoric skeletal remains into design elements. Agutte’s, Christie’s, and Sotheby’s have all profited from high-profile buyers like DiCaprio, who treat dinosaur skeletons collectibles for their private homes. The draw could be the exorbitant price tag, large size, the storied remains of past millennia, or the limited availability of authentic pieces. These considerations make the practice of collecting dinosaurs a truly exclusive hobby. Apart from DiCaprio, fellow actor Nicolas Cage has been known to partake in unconventional collecting practices, such as amassing his own strange collection of antiquities, including a dinosaur skull. His other purchases include shrunken heads, pygmy heads, two castles in Europe, a nine-foot tall ancient burial tomb, and an octopus. Additionally, he made large real estate purchases to further his real-life search for the Holy Grail, but has admitted that, in doing so, his behavior “got out of hand.” The Rock is also a dinosaur fan, but he steers clear of the real deal. In his home, he has a replica skull (of the aforementioned T. rex Stan). The choice of a replica is not because he couldn’t afford to house real bones in his den. The Rock has stated that he believes dinosaur bones should be in the hands of paleontologists trained to care for them, thus cementing the Rock in America’s heart as the nation’s true national treasure. (Once again, our apologies to Nicolas Cage—we may be moonstruck over your films, but not your collecting practices).
While the Rock has been purchasing replica skulls to preserve fossils for science, Cage and DiCaprio have been duking it out in the auction house. Cage engaged in a massive bidding war with DiCaprio over a 67 million-year-old dinosaur skull – and he won. However, his victory was short lived. Six years later, the Mongolian government demanded the repatriation of the skull under Mongolian law.
Mongolian Law
Another impressive skeleton at the American Museum of Natural History
Regulations determining the legality of fossil excavation, trade, and export vary depending on the country in which the specimen was unearthed. Mongolia, for example, enacted a law in 1924 prohibited commercial export of fossils by giving the Mongolian government possession of them when uncovered within Mongolia’s borders. The law then criminalizes anyone who excavates and illegally exports fossils found in places such as the Gobi Desert, which might well be the Coachella of the T. rex, because that’s where all the T. rex skeletons seem to have gathered to party under the sun.
Morocco, Brazil, China, and Argentina all have similar laws which criminalize commercial export of these precious, prehistoric fossilized remains. Consequently, buyers who purchase a dinosaur fossil that has come from one of these areas – without the permission of the relevant government – is in violation of that country’s national law. As a result, they may be required to forfeit the object to its home country.
Mongolia’s stance on fossils as exclusively government property came into the limelight in 2016 when the purchaser of a Tyrannosaurus rex Baatar skull (the “Baatar Skull”) voluntarily returned the skull to the Mongolian government after the true provenance of the skull was proven. The client had purchased the skull from a California auction house in 2007. It appeared legitimate to the buyer at the time of sale because the skull arrived in the U.S. using proper customs documents, and the auction house listed the skull’s origins as being “Eurasian,” which may or may not have signaled its origin as Mongolian. to the buyer to include Mongolia. When Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) looked into the matter in 2015, and their investigation determined that the skull was, in fact, Mongolian, and had entered the country illegally, the buyer forfeited the skull as Mongolian national property.
This example is one of many recent forfeitures of dinosaur remains to their countries of origin. A similar incident occurred just a few years prior to the Baatar Skull’s return, and also involved a Baatar skull from Mongolia (the “Baatar”). In this case, more red flags existed that could have tipped off a prudent buyer to the potentially criminal features of his purchase. The Baatar was illegally exported to the U.S. by making a sneaky pitstop in Britain, which may have distracted customs officials, as the skull did not come directly from the desert. Moreover, the customs documents used to bring the Baatar into the U.S. took a bit of artistic license in their description, relying heavily on vague terms to describe the piece.
When the skull was put up for sale by a Texas auction house Heritage Auctions, Inc. , the Mongolian government recognized the skull as being extremely similar to the species known for being excavated on Mongolian soil. The Asian nation initiated proceedings to stop the auction house from going through with the sale, even receiving a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against the house to prevent the auction. Heritage Auctions brazenly ignored the TRO and went through with the sale anyway, simply adding to the listing that the skull’s eventual possession would be determined by the outcome of the Mongolian government’s actions. Astonishingly, the auction house found a buyer game for this very risky gamble of a whooping $1 million.
Following the sale, the skull was proven to be of Mongolian provenience, and actions demanding its return were quickly filed with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations, and the State of Texas. The importance of returning skulls such as the two aforementioned Baatar skulls cannot be glossed over. While the laws may seem extreme in practice, as buyers like Cage lose ownership of their prized treasures, the reality is that these dinosaur bones are not toys; they are irrecoverable pieces of global cultural heritage that must be preserved and studied with unyielding caution and care. As a result, adherence to the regulations of these foreign countries and refraining from purchasing illegally exported fossils, even through channels that seem legal, is vital to protecting the prehistoric legacies of hundreds of dinosaur species.
The same holds true for fossilized remains found on U.S. soil, though the regulations determining the possession of these objects depend on who owns the land from which the fossil was excavated. If the fossil was taken from private land with the permission of the private landowner, the fossil may be bought and sold commercially for profit. If, on the other hand, the fossil was discovered on state or federal land (including on land within national forests and parks), the fossil’s ownership falls under a different set of property regulations that limit its capacity for commercial sale by the finder.
A high-profile case involving dinosaur remains found in U.S. soil occurred in 2006, after Larry Walker, a self-deemed “paleo-prospector”, illegally excavated dinosaur claws from land owned by the government in a desert near his home in Utah. Under the cover of night, Walker added a layer of intrigue to his already mysterious job title by erecting “camouflage netting” over his excavation workspace each night. After successful excavation of the claws – talons belonging to a distinctive prehistoric bird species – Walker then did away with any attempts at subterfuge by publicly selling the claws at an extremely flashy gem and mineral show in Arizona. He walked away with $15,000, feeling flush with fortune. But his luck was about to run out. His big sale was followed by a formal investigation by the government, which let to Walker’s eventual prosecution for his illegal paleo-prospecting ways. Walker was fined $15,000 and sentenced to ten months in jail.
In Walker’s case, he seems the author of his own fate, as his actions demonstrated that he not only knew he was removing the claws from government land, he also knew that his excavation was wrong. However, in some cases involving U.S. fossils, their discovery may be accidental. The average tourist wandering down a trail at national park could feasibly pick up a brown rock that looks like every other brown rock, only to later discover that it is a priceless piece of the land’s history. Should that tourist become aware that the brown rock is a fossil, he or she would be required to forfeit it to the government. Yet, a criminal investigation, like the one that brought down dear Walker the Paleo-Prospector, would be unlikely.
Conclusion
In essence, regulations concerning dinosaur fossils and skeletal remains are no laughing matter and must be respected (the dinosaurs don’t find violation of these laws humerus). If the fossil’s origin is proven to be of a country whose laws dictate national possession, it is likely that the buyer of such a fossil will be required to forfeit the object back to its home country. If the fossil is of U.S. origin, a buyer or finder may possess it, if it is excavated with the permission of a private land owner. Otherwise, that fossil will be property of the government, and will likely need to be forfeited as well. Either way, the find should be reported.
The justification for these seemingly strict laws is that the delicacy and rarity of fossilized dinosaur remains requires them to be handled and preserved by professionals. Although these laws may seem stringent, they protect the legacy of the entire planet. Moreover, new dinosaur species continue to be found in areas rich with dinosaur artifacts. An example occurred as recently as last week, with the discovery of the world’s first “swimming dinosaur”. The Natovenator is the first non-avian dinosaur with swimming and diving capabilities to be discovered. Its remains were found in Mongolia. Such discoveries heighten the need for regulations protecting the excavation of dinosaur remains to be followed, because the scientific community requires the information encased in them to further ongoing scholastic research.
So if you plan on gifting fossils this holiday season, be aware of the risks. Take a page out of the Rock’s book, and make sure they’re appropriately-priced replicas.