chele Posted May 17, 2013 Share Posted May 17, 2013 Hello everybody! I have not been on very much and I am sorry. Between health issues and the intense schedule here on the ranch I do not have much time to do what I would really like to do. So not to bore you guys to death I will continue to my question. A friend of ours has a lot of Diplodocus bones for sale. He has a very large tibia and is asking $800. The bone is still in the matrix and can be removed/repaired easily. $800 seems very low for such a large bone in great condition. I can not find much of anything like this for sale to see what it is worth. Any help would be great. Thanks! Chelebele Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regg Cato Posted May 18, 2013 Share Posted May 18, 2013 I guess my first question is how did he come about having all these Diplodocus bones in the first place; secondly, if I had a bunch of Diplodocus bones the last thing I'd be thinking of doing is selling them (barring the next great depression coming on). $800 does seem awfully low; I'd expect a large sauropod limb bone to go for a couple thousand, but without seeing any pictures it's hard to assess how reasonable that is. And by reasonable I mean "market value"; I'd take that price and run with it...or maybe see if they'd go to $700/750 lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siteseer Posted May 18, 2013 Share Posted May 18, 2013 Chele, That does seem reasonable. Your friend might recognize that the buyer might have to ship it and certainly will have to work on it. Even if the matrix is easy to clean off, the bone is likely to be fragile and may even crack/break during transport. After it's cleaned, it should get some coatings of Butvar or Vinac. If it's already in at least two sections, the sections might need to be drilled so that a metal rod can be inserted with lots of glue to provide internal support. Some people who have large dinosaur bones just leave them in sections. It's not always easy to find a buyer for large bones. Many collectors don't have the room for something that size (6 feet?). Jess Hello everybody! I have not been on very much and I am sorry. Between health issues and the intense schedule here on the ranch I do not have much time to do what I would really like to do. So not to bore you guys to death I will continue to my question. A friend of ours has a lot of Diplodocus bones for sale. He has a very large tibia and is asking $800. The bone is still in the matrix and can be removed/repaired easily. $800 seems very low for such a large bone in great condition. I can not find much of anything like this for sale to see what it is worth. Any help would be great. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troodon Posted May 18, 2013 Share Posted May 18, 2013 I have to echo siteseer comments and add that bigger here may not be better even at a great price. Not sure what size bone you are talking about but handling and preparing large bones is not an easy task. Even though the matrix can be easily removed large bones are brittle and have to be properly stabilized and supported to avoid breakage. Sometimes leaving the bone in some matrix or plaster jacket may be a wiser choice and can be aesthetically pleasing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snolly50 Posted May 18, 2013 Share Posted May 18, 2013 Hi chele, It's nice to see you back on the forum. I hope you are feeling better and the ranch calms down to give you more "fossil time" (and therefore more reports of great finds for us here). Good luck with the diplo. Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, also are remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. - Douglas Adams, Last Chance to See Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chele Posted May 18, 2013 Author Share Posted May 18, 2013 Thanks guys. I know all about big bones. We have a very large T Rex femur and a bigger Triceratops femur. Our shop has a lot of big Triceratops bones sitting in there. The shop is supplied with a lot of PVA, epoxy, soda bicarbonate, micro blasters along with very large sand blasters. We have large tractor loaders to move the bigger stuff around. All the Diplodocus bones will go into our private collection, not for sale. As far as the shipping goes we will pick them up. It is only a 3 hour drive. Blaine will rejacket all the bones for transport. They will be placed on pallets and loaded with a forklift. Blaine has had a lot of experience with very large bones. The only problem we will have is room for them. I guess Blaine will have to park his pickup outside now! Chelebele Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vordigern Posted May 18, 2013 Share Posted May 18, 2013 wow, sounds very reasonable to me, even with the preppnig you'll still have to do. what an awesome addition to your collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanceHS Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 Chele, In my opinion, $800 sounds reasonable for a tibia still in matrix. My guess is that a fully prepared adult tibia, and fairly complete (not a lot of restoration, etc.), would probably run upwards of $2000 or more. I've seen hadrosaur tibias go anywhere from $1500 to over $3000 prepared. Sounds like you have the facilities to work on it, so I guess it really depends on the quality of the bone and completeness, that to me would drive how reasonable price is. Lance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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