Mammoth skeleton sold for £115,000 in Billingshurst

A large mammoth skeleton dating back to the ice age has gone under the hammer at a Billingshurst auction house.
Mammoth and moa skeletons sold at auctionMammoth and moa skeletons sold at auction
Mammoth and moa skeletons sold at auction

The pre historic animal sold for more than £115,000 after being put for sale in Summer Place Auction’s 6th Evolution Sale.

Alongside the giant creature another long-extinct skeleton was also snapped up for a pretty penny as well as a piece of 22 million-year-old amber and a 200-year-old whale jaw.

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Originally discovered in the Tomsk Region of Siberia the mammoth skeleton was the headline attraction at the auction house sale on Tuesday (November 20).

Moa skeletonMoa skeleton
Moa skeleton

Measuring around 2.4m in height and 4m in length the large mammal sold for more than £115,000.

But it wasn’t the only extinct species up for sale with a moa skeleton sold for the first time in the country since the 1930s.

The pre 15th century New Zealand bird was sold for £22,000 and the auction house said it was unlikely another will come up for sale.

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A 19th century collection of Baltic amber containing various insects in a mahogany case was also sold for thousands of pounds.

Mammoth skeletonMammoth skeleton
Mammoth skeleton

The amber dates back 22 million years where it is estimated forests in the Baltic Region created more than 100,000 tonnes of the fossilised tree resin.

Summer Place said the collection was pulled together a Mr N.D Derbyshire in the late 19th/ early 20th century and - along with photos and illustrated notes by Mr Derbyshire - sold for more than £5,800 on Tuesday.

A pair of whale jaw bones - around 13ft long - from the early 19th century also fetched more than £4,000 at auction.

The auction house said the bones were used as an arch outside the home of a foundry owner who supplied whaling ships with cast iron ‘try pots’.