Taxidermy & Natural History

Three bidders – one French, one Japanese and one Swedish – did battle for half an hour in the chase to acquire the skeleton of a new species of carnivorous dinosaur at a Paris auction this month.

A rare complete mammoth skeleton from Siberia dating from the late Pleistocene era sold for a hammer price of €430,000 (£380,530) in a sale held by Aguttes in Lyons.

In an August 2016 ATG wrote that the scrimshaw market had been in the doldrums but was showing signs of a return to buoyancy. Judging by the latest results from Massachusetts auction house Eldred’s, bidders are certainly prepared to push the boat out for the best examples.

A member of a gang which stole taxidermy from a well-known dealer a year ago, has been sentenced.

A rare dodo skeleton – the first almost complete specimen in nearly a century – has sold for £280,000 at auction.

This rare dodo skeleton – the first almost complete specimen in nearly a century – carries an estimate of £500,000 at Summers Place Auctions’ November 22 sale.

Scrimshaw has been in the doldrums during the last few years with several dealers and auctioneers holding back on sales until there is more legislative clarity over the rules concerning its sale and importation.

A large scrimshaw-decorated nautilus shell by Charles B Wood sold for an unexpected £8500 at Charles Miller’s latest sale of maritime antiques in London. It sold to a UK private collector.

Specialist taxidermy dealer Alexis Turner has lost a significant portion of his stock following an extraordinary raid on a London warehouse.

Cased fish, once the only acceptable face of the taxidermy market, have cooled since the 1990s when prices in excess of £3000 were commonplace.

Two of the best-known anthropomorphic creations of the celebrated Victorian taxidermist Walter Potter (1835-1918) resurfaced at Treadway Toomey in Oak Park, near Chicago, Illinois, on February 6.