Lot 664
Nest of Eight Dinosaur Eggs From Oviraptor, One of the Most Famous and Important Dinosaurs. One of the most desirable of dinosaur eggs belongs to the strange theropod, Oviraptor. The name Oviraptor means egg stealer and when first found near the nest, they were thought to have died trying to eat the eggs. An amazing discovery in 1995 of a near complete Oviraptor actually sitting on a nest made it apparent that the Oviraptor was actually brooding the eggs (picture included with lot). Embryonic bones found in some of these black eggs confirmed that they were Oviraptor young. Oviraptors were about 8 feet long, had a toothless beak and were one of the most bird-like of non-avion theropods.
The museum quality, 8-egg nest comes from the Nanxiang Basin, Guandong Province of China and is about 70 million years old. All of the eggs display their original unhatched shape, as well as 50%-80% of their original black shell with the detail typical of raptor eggs. Oviraptors laid their eggs two at a time; as this partial nest beautifully displays, the eggs were laid two by two in two layers. The 7 inch long eggs reside in their original 18 x 10 inch red sandstone matrix that has been flattened on the bottom for easy display or they can be displayed standing upright.
As no more dinosaur eggs are currently coming out of China, this may be an important opportunity to acquire a museum-quality clutch of eggs. Individual eggs sell for $1,000 or more and nests are much much rarer. Weight is 47 pounds.
Estimated Value $5,000 - 8,500.
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| Realized $4,140 |
