Fossil of Dueling Dinosaurs Fails to Sell in Much Anticipated Auction

A fossil of two dinosaurs forever locked in combat failed to to sell during a much anticipated auction Tuesday, The Associated Press reported.

The rare fossil was uncovered in 2006 in the fossil-rich Hell Creek Formation located in Montana. Expected to fetch between $7 million and $9 million, the highest offer fell short of the reserve at the Bonhams auction at just $5.5 million.

Hopes remain high, however, that a buyer can still be located, according to auction officials.

"We already had parties contacting us in advance of the sale, that should they not sell, please keep us in mind, we're very interested," Thomas Lindgren, Bonhams co-consulting director of natural history, told the AP. "Those negotiations will begin immediately."

Considered to hold significant scientific value, the specimen was first presented to the Smithsonian and American Museum of Natural History, both of which were given a chance to buy it before the auction was arranged, the United Press International reported back in July.

Director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History Kirk Johnson called the dinosaurs "a superb pair of specimens," terming the find "a significant discovery," according to the AP.

The specimen is believed to date back to the Cretaceous era, with Bonhams reporting the skeletons as belonging to a kind of pygmy Tyrannosaurus Rex, called the Nanotyrannus lancensis, and the herbivorous Chasmosaurine ceratopsian, a close relative of the Triceratops.

"Both would have stood about eight feet high and measured between 25 and 35 feet long," Bonhams said. "The fully articulated skeletons show the well-matched foes were locked in mortal combat, each inflicting fatal wounds on the other. Nanotyrannus teeth are present in the skull of the Chasmosaurine, while the Nanotyrannus' skull and chest appear to have been crushed laterally, as though kicked."

However, Jack Horner, a paleontologist from Montana State University, said the promoters' claims were designed "to enhance the price of the specimen," the AP reported.

According to the researcher, "These fossils are not worth anything because they were collected to sell and not specifically for their science."