Mongolia, auction house battle over dinosaur
NEW YORK -- A dinosaur dispute is brewing between the Mongolian government and an American auction house, which sold a fossil of a fearsome T. Rex relative despite a court order not to.
The 2.4-metre-tall, 7.3-metre - long skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus bataar -- or Tarbosaurus, a name that means "alarming lizard" -- went for $1,052,500 Sunday at a New York auction, says Heritage Auctions.
The auction house did not identify the buyer or seller. But the sale is contingent on the outcome of the Dallas-based auction house's court fight with Mongolian President Elbegdorj Tsakhia, the auction house said.
Elbegdorj says the fossil -- a nearly complete skeleton of a two-legged, fanged beast that stalked Central Asia 80 million years ago -- may belong to his country. Heritage says it was assured the specimen was obtained legally and that Mongolia hasn't established the fossil's origins lie there.
The auction came a day after a Dallas judge ordered Heritage not to sell the specimen while the case played out -- and the sale happened even with Texas state District Judge Carlos R. Cortez listening via cellphone, said Elbegdorj lawyer Robert Painter. He said Monday he planned to ask the judge to find that Heritage defied his ruling and hold the auction house in contempt of court.
-- The Associated Press
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 22, 2012 $sourceSection0
The 2.4-metre-tall, 7.3-metre - long skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus bataar -- or Tarbosaurus, a name that means "alarming lizard" -- went for $1,052,500 Sunday at a New York auction, says Heritage Auctions.
The auction house did not identify the buyer or seller. But the sale is contingent on the outcome of the Dallas-based auction house's court fight with Mongolian President Elbegdorj Tsakhia, the auction house said.
Elbegdorj says the fossil -- a nearly complete skeleton of a two-legged, fanged beast that stalked Central Asia 80 million years ago -- may belong to his country. Heritage says it was assured the specimen was obtained legally and that Mongolia hasn't established the fossil's origins lie there.
The auction came a day after a Dallas judge ordered Heritage not to sell the specimen while the case played out -- and the sale happened even with Texas state District Judge Carlos R. Cortez listening via cellphone, said Elbegdorj lawyer Robert Painter. He said Monday he planned to ask the judge to find that Heritage defied his ruling and hold the auction house in contempt of court.
-- The Associated Press
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 22, 2012 $sourceSection0
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