Tyrannosaurus Flex

“It could gobble you up in one bite. It’s just an amazing creature. It’s the best trophy kind of thing you could own.” That’s how Dan O’Dowd described the purchase of his Tyrannosaurus rex, Samson. “Dinosaur skeletons had recently become a hot new asset class, coveted by the ultrarich, not unlike sports franchises or Fabergé eggs. They offered a mix of glamour and primal appeal to a certain type of high-net-worth buyer—someone who might find the conventional art market fussy or convoluted but couldn’t deny the allure of a T. rex.” You have to give O’Dowd some credit. He got into the game early, back in 2009 — only missing the market’s peak by about 66 million years. He scored his dino for a cool $600,000. These days, they can go for about $50 million. “A dinosaur’s value, like a painting’s or sculpture’s, derives from a protean mix of provenance, desire and authenticity—the last one hard to define, let alone prove, and in the case of an auction, up to the buyer to verify.” It’s not entirely clear whether these bones should be privately owned, whether the market for them makes any real sense, whether the numbers add up, and most importantly, whether or not the high-valued items are bone-a-fide or not actually worth anything at all. In other words, it’s a lot like many of today’s other popular investments. Bloomberg (Gift Article): The Bone Rush.