A chasmosaur skull slated to go to auction on November 19, 2013 will now, thanks to a transfer agreement between the Royal Tyrrell Museum and the San Diego Natural History Museum (SDNHM), be coming home to Alberta.

The chasmosaur (horned dinosaur) skull, collected by Charles H. Sternberg in 1917 in what is now Dinosaur Provincial Park, has been housed at the SDNHM since Sternberg began work with the museum in 1920.

Recently, several SDNHM specimens, including the chasmosaur skull, were deaccessioned and sent to Bonham’s Auction in New York. Royal Tyrrell Museum Director of Preservation and Research, Dr. Don Brinkman, contacted the SDNHM to inquire about the possibility of transferring the fossil to the Royal Tyrrell Museum because of its scientific significance.

He received a positive response and the wheels were set in motion to withdraw the specimen from the auction. Bonham’s agreed that withdrawing the specimen was the right thing to do.

The skull is currently in New York and will be on its way back to Alberta as soon as shipping details are completed. It will be great to welcome this specimen back home after almost 100 years. Once the specimen is at the Royal Tyrrell Museum it will be studied by scientists at the museum as they try to answer questions about chasmosaurs from the Dinosaur Park area.