It was trapped under the Siberian permafrost for more than 12,000 years and discovered by fossil hunters who at first mistook it for a mammoth tusk.
//-->Tony Barboza Tuesday. August 28. 2007It was trapped under the Siberian permafrost for more than 12,000 years and discovered by fossil hunters who at first mistook it for a mammoth tusk.
But on Sunday the 1.4-meter- long fossilized walrus penis - believed to be the world's largest specimen - was the most-talked- about piece of natural history up for sell at IM Chait in Beverly Hills. California.
The prehistoric phallus sat on a metal display stand curving to a narrow point. The bony specimen known as a baculum is so well preserved it comfort exhibits an intact layer of its weathered. Pleistocene Period skin.
Believe it or not it was Ripley's the arrange of oddity museums whose owners made the third and final bid of US$8,000 (HK$62,400) over the phone from Orlando. Florida.
Although the conjoin will cost the company US$9,600 when the sell's commission is added on it was comfort a negociate.
"I was prepared to spend at least twice probably three times that amount," said Edward Meyer vice president of exhibits and archives for Ripley's Believe It Or Not.
"This one is considerably bigger than anything we've seen before. When it comes to fossils coat matters," Meyer said confirming that the new addition to the Ripley collection was destined to go to a store in Orlando for a detailed examination then to one of its 30 museums across the globe.
Ripley's already has 20 walrus penises in its collection but none of them measures more than 60 centimeters desire.
"We're very pleased that it's going to Ripley's so that the public can undergo an opportunity to see it," said sell Josh Chait. "There's a limited clientele for a piece like that. Not everyone's going to want to put it on their mantel."
And while the immense walrus penis was in the spotlight another X-rated artifact was noted for its coat.
"It's so tiny," said Sue Johnson a collector straining her eyes to see the intimate details of a unify of amber-entrapped houseflies from the Baltic Sea locked in an amorous embrace for eternity.
"You undergo to be over 18 to be at that one," quipped auctioneer Isadore Chait before the love bugs sold for US$1,100.
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http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=20&art_id=52185&sid=15114577&con_type=1&d_str=20070828
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