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Press Release - December 15, 2018
Unusual Prehistoric Dire Wolf Skull Found in Page County, Iowa, Sold for $52,500 at Auction
Museum-Quality Specimen Recovered near the Nodaway River"The specimen is a true museum-quality example for many reasons, the combination of size and condition and its discovery from a unique locality places it in a class by itself," said Craig Kissick, director of Nature and Science at Heritage Auctions, which sold the skull well above its $30,000 pre-auction estimate.
The legendary prehistoric hypercarnivore recently entered pop culture thanks to the HBO series Game of Thrones, in which the creatures are portrayed as orphaned wolf cubs that grow into fearsome figures.
At more than 11 inches long, the one-of-a kind specimen is bigger than most of the other known skulls generally recovered from the tar pits of the West Coast. The piece retained a large amount of impressive teeth and the major part of the skull was found in exceptional condition, having been preserved with some 90% of the original bone material intact.
Scientists believe that these powerful predators supplemented their fleshy diet by crushing bones in order to extract nutrients from the marrow.
Heritage Auctions is the largest fine art and collectibles auction house founded in the United States, and the world's largest collectibles auctioneer. Heritage maintains offices in New York, Dallas, Beverly Hills, San Francisco, Chicago, Palm Beach, London, Paris, Geneva, Amsterdam and Hong Kong.
The Internet's most popular auction-house website, HA.com, has over one million registered bidder-members and searchable free archives of four million past auction records with prices realized, descriptions and enlargeable photos. Reproduction rights routinely granted to media for photo credit.
Eric Bradley, Director, Public Relations
214-409-1871; EricB@HA.com