If you ever dreamed of owning your own dinosaur, now’s your chance. Possibly the most impressive natural history auction ever is set to take place Oct. 3 at the Venetian Casino in Las Vegas.

The main event will be Samson, one of the best T. rex skeletons ever found. But there are around 50 lots for sale, including many impressive, museum-quality rarities, all of which will be on display to the public in the weeks preceding the auction.

“The items we have in this auction are definitely museum standard, or better,” said Tom Lindgren, co-director of natural history for the auction house Bonhams & Butterfields told Wired.com in August. “Most of the museums in the world don’t have anything near what we have in this auction.”

The following photos and catalog descriptions include the largest shark jaw ever found, a giant pig skull and a duck-billed dinosaur.

Above: The T. rex known as Samson, One of the Most Complete Tyrannosaurus rex Specimens in Existence

Tyrannosaurus rex

Late Cretaceous (100 – 65 million years ago)

Harding County, South Dakota

Measures approximately 40 feet in length, 15 feet in height

Est. $2,000,000 – $8,000,000

The rare 66-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex is one of the three most complete examples of its species to have been discovered. Excavated from a ranch near Buffalo, South Dakota over 15 years ago, Samson has journeyed to NASA for CAT scans of the skull, the Carnegie Museum for the preparation of the skull and to a New Jersey laboratory where she was professionally mounted for display.

In life, Samson could have looked into a second story window. Her massive skull and powerful serrated teeth could have bitten through the leg bone of any contemporary dinosaur. Most likely a very skilled hunter with binocular color vision and an extremely sensitive sense of smell, this colossus lived as an apex predator of the Late Cretaceous Period.

Prepared at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Samson’s skull is regarded as one of the finest and most complete T. rex skulls in existence, and displays 22 teeth. The skeleton contains approximately 170 bones, more than 55 percent of the total bone count of an entire skeleton. Samson was equal in weight to Sue, the T. rex skeleton currently displayed at the Field Museum in Chicago. Her large size is one indication that Samson is a female, despite her male moniker.

Images and caption: Bonhams and Butterfields

Lot 30

Pair of Dinosaurs Known as “Xenia” (right) and “Ben” (above)

Einiosaurus procurvicornis

Late Cretaceous (100 – 65 million years ago)

Two Medicine Formation, Montana

Large specimen measures 16 feet in length, small specimen measures 13 feet in length

Est. $500,000 – $600,000

Found exclusively in Montana, Einiosaurus procurvicornis is, like Triceratops, a ceratopsian. Formally named quite recently (in 1995), the species’ most striking features are the down-turned nasal horn and the presence of two long epoccipital horns at the back of the skull.

Both of the present specimens were discovered in the same general area of a Montana bone bed, two digging seasons apart — Xenia in the summer of 2000 and Ben during the summer of 2002. These individuals were most likely members of the same herd.

An extremely rare skeleton, Xenia is one of the most complete Einiosaurus specimens ever found. The very complete skull exhibits excellent representation of midline elements. A scientifically important feature of the skull is the presence of a virtually complete brain case.

The virtuoso mounting of these specimens is exemplified by the treatment of Xenia’s skull, which can be turned from side to side. The skeleton is completely modular. Almost every bone can be removed from the armature for scientific study; metal clips and cradles are used to secure the bones to the armature.

The juvenile specimen, known as Ben, displays excellent representation of the nasal horn core. The skeleton illustrates developmental differences in some key elements of the species. Ben’s skull can be rotated along two planes, up-and-down as well as side-to-side.

Images and caption: Bonhams and Butterfields

Lot 34

World’s Largest Known Set of Shark Jaws

Carcharocles megalodon

Miocene (23 – 5 million years ago)

Ogeechee River, South Carolina

Measures 8 feet by 10 feet

Est. $900,000 – $1,200,000

The world’s largest known set of shark jaws originate from Carcharocles megalodon, the most massive carnivorous fish species known. Living 16 million years ago, the gargantuan species is thought to have grown to lengths approaching the length of the contemporary blue whale.

Fifty-one million years after the dinosaurs became extinct, Carcharocles megalodon trolled the Earth’s seas as an apex predator. Much is unknown about megalodon (meaning giant tooth), including its exact size. Scientists differ in their estimates of the length which this marine behemoth may have attained, suggesting linear measures from 40 to 100 feet. Scientists believe that megalodon became extinct approximately five million years ago.

The collector and preparator of the present piece, Mr. Vito Bertucci, earned the moniker Megalodon Man due to his passionate underwater fossil hunting. Most widely known for his reconstruction of a Carcharocles megalodon jaw, the topic of a National Geographic television program, the former jeweler spent 20 years collecting the 184 fossil shark teeth with which he reconstructed the present megalodon jaws.

The teeth in the present specimen have been mounted in a resin reconstruction representing the cartilaginous jaw of Carcharocles megalodon. Four of the teeth are at least seven inches in length.

Image and caption: Bonhams and Butterfields

Lot 40

Large Opalescent Ammonite on Stand

Placenticeras costatum

Late Cretaceous (100 – 65 million years ago)

Bearpaw Formation, Southern Alberta, Canada

Measures 20 inches in diameter

Est. $35,000 – $45,000

Prepared free of matrix, this brilliant ammonite specimen displays a portion of rarely seen blue coloration, adding to the vivid reds, rust-oranges and greens. The beauty of this example belies its fierce predatory habit as a living squid-like creature. Desired by collectors the world over, the stunning palette of these marvelous 71 million-year-old ammonites is produced by light interference by the shell layers. This colorful material, known as ammolite, represents one of only two fossils which are also classified as gemstones. In the present specimen, resplendent color is seen on both sides. Offered on a custom oak display stand.

Image and caption: Bonhams and Butterfields

Lot 35

Kansas King Fish – Formidable Fossil Fish from Kansas

Xiphactinus audax

Late Cretaceous (100 – 65 million years ago)

Niobrara Chalk Formation, Logan County, Kansas

Length measures 15 feet 3 inches; length of panel measures 17 feet

Est. $200,000 – $250,000

One of the finest fossil fish specimens in the world, this Xiphactinus specimen was discovered in 2007 when its tail was spotted partially protruding from a hillside in Western Kansas. Six weeks of excavation and nearly two years of preparation revealed the second-largest known bony fish specimen in the world, which the discoverer named the Kansas King Fish. Found within the body cavity is the preserved skeleton of a smaller fish of unknown species. Amazingly, soft tissue is also preserved with the bony skeleton. All of the vertebrae are present and original to the specimen. The massive skull exhibits extremely large teeth and the bony ring around the eye.

Image and caption: Bonhams and Butterfields

Lot 25

Duck-billed Dinosaur

Edmontosaurus annectens

Late Cretaceous (100 – 65 million years ago)

Hell Creek Formation, Faith, South Dakota

Measures 28 feet in length, 9.75 feet in height; skull measures 42 inches

Est. $375,000 – $475,000

A superlative example of its species, this lot is comprised of a virtually complete, fully mounted Edmontosaurus annectens skeleton. Displaying very little restoration, its bone count is estimated at 90 per cent. The superb presentation is the result of months of mounting bones which were recovered from a mass death assemblage. The bones were excavated from the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research quarry located on the Ruth Mason Ranch near Faith, South Dakota. Mounted by the BHIGR, it was sold to the Siebo Museum of Tokyo, Japan in 1991. When the Museum was closed, it was acquired by a private party in the United States.

Hadrosaurids, or duck-billed dinosaurs, were the largest ornithopods (a type of bird-hipped dinosaur) to have ever inhabited Earth. Edmontosaurus, a type of hadrosaur, grew up to 42 feet in length and may have weighed up to 3.5 tons. These titans ranged in herds throughout North America during the Cretaceous Period. Slow-moving plant-eaters with few defenses, duck-bills provided a food source for many carnivores, earning them the nickname the cattle of the Cretaceous.

As illustrated by the present offering, the head of Edmontosaurus was flat and sloping with a wide, toothless beak, cheek pouches and hundreds of closely-packed cheek teeth used to grind its vegetarian diet. It was a biped (walking on two legs) but it could also walk on four legs, perhaps to graze low-lying plants. Edmontosaurus possessed short arms, a long, pointed tail and distinctive three-toed, hoofed feet.

Image and caption: Bonhams and Butterfields

Lot 28

Giant Fossil Pig Skull

Archaeotherium sp.

Oligocene (34 – 23 million years ago)

Brule Formation, White River Badlands, South Dakota

Skull measures 14 inches by 29 inches

Est. $9,000 – $12,000

A rare genus from an extinct family of Artiodactyls related to the hippos and boars, it is now believed that Archaeotherium was a predator rather than a scavenger. Its lower jaw structure enabled Archaeotherium to open its jaws very wide, then snap them shut quickly, and the premolar teeth are pointed and triangular, with a sharp ridge along the back edge. Quite large for the species, the present specimen comprises a skull displaying mostly original teeth, with three cervical vertebrae. The bones have been prepared in relief from the original matrix.

Image and caption: Bonhams and Butterfields

Lot 37

Largest Known Fossil Shark Skeleton

Cretoxyrhina

Late Cretaceous (100 – 65 million years ago)

Niobrara Formation, Gove County, Kansas

Measures 16 feet by 18 feet; specimen measures 25 feet in length

Est. $350,000 – $400,000

The largest fossil shark skeleton found to date, this Cretoxyrhina (kree-tox-ee-rye-nuh) specimen is virtually complete, with the exception of some skull elements and several teeth. Because sharks’ skeletons are cartilaginous, it is extremely difficult to find significant fossilized remains of prehistoric sharks; decay normally sets in before fossilization can occur. Here, however, the entire vertebral column is present and the associated cartilaginous remains are extraordinarily well preserved. Approximately 100 teeth are also preserved.

The specimen is approximately 95 percent articulated – presented in the position in which it was discovered. Not only are all of the vertebrae preserved, they are in almost perfect alignment. The caudal fin is preserved in its correct position and other features, such as fins, and possibly skin, are also preserved. The 82 million-year-old specimen is prepared in a panel mount, on artificial matrix. The specimen was discovered on private, leased land in Gove County, Kansas.

Cretoxyrhina, meaning the jaws of the Cretaceous, lived in the Late Cretaceous and was the largest shark of its time. The genus was a swift predator with a torpedo-shaped body line and a hefty tail fin. An ancestral cousin to the modern great white shark, it was most likely the most formidable of all fish species in the Cretaceous seas. Though sharks were plentiful and were successful marine predators, relatively few prehistoric shark skeletons are preserved. Unlike bony fish, the cartilage of shark skeleton requires especially fortuitous conditions for fossilization to occur.

Image and caption: Bonhams and Butterfields

Lot 6

Palm Mural

Sabalites sp.

Eocene (56 – 34 million years ago)

Green River Formation, Wyoming

Measures 70 inches by 8 1inches

Est. $40,000 – $50,000

Arguably the most aesthetically appealing finds from the Green River Formation are its amazing palm fronds. Considered rare in this geologic formation due to the low probability of preservation of the delicate organic material, these wonderful fossil plants evoke the subtropical climate of North America during the Eocene. In the high desert of what is now known as Wyoming, an ancient lake system, surrounded by lush subtropical vegetation, teemed with fishes, turtles and crocodiles. The present specimen is a superlative palm frond specimen characteristic of this locality. The stone has been backed with wood and custom framed in African Wenge wood.

Image and caption: Bonhams and Butterfields

Lot 32

Woolly Mammoth Skeleton

Mammuthus primigenius

Pleistocene (2.6 million – 10,000 years ago)

Eastern Siberia, Russia

Height measures 11 feet

Est. $150,000 – $200,000

Woolly mammoths journeyed through the frozen wastelands of the last Ice Age as the largest mammals of their time. Approximately the size of the Asian elephant, their hairy body and storage of fat provided warmth; their heavy, shaggy coats consisted of an outer layer of long, dark hair with a layer of fine under-wool for insulation, their skin was dark gray with an underlying layer of insulating fat. Unlike modern elephant ears, the woolly mammoth’s ears were small (elephants use their ears to cool themselves and, as the mammoth lived in a cold environment, large ears were unnecessary.) Mammoths most likely used their long, curved tusks to sift the snow to forage for vegetation; males may have used their tusks in intra-species combat or competition for females.

The present woolly mammoth skeleton is excellently preserved, boasting approximately 90 percent original bone. Though the skeleton was recovered from permafrost, no remains of soft tissue are preserved, indicating that the animal’s carcass was exposed to the elements, causing decomposition, before it was permanently buried in the frozen soil. The specimen has been professionally mounted and stands nearly 11 feet in height.

Image and caption: Bonhams and Butterfields

