The gallery David Aaron has brokered a deal between one of its top American art collecting couples\u2014who are based in the UK\u2014and London\u2019s Natural History Museum to acquire the skeleton of an entirely new species of dinosaur. Valued at \u00a3450,000 when it was shown at Frieze Masters in London in 2023, the specimen was donated to the NHM and was unveiled there last month. <\/p>\n
Though not a new phenomenon, such collaborations between the trade and museums are unusual, according to the gallery\u2019s director Salomon Aaron. \u201cI set out to find a private buyer to acquire it for the museum,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s the ideal scenario. Often it doesn\u2019t work, but in this instance it was a success story\u2014harnessing the art market to help a museum.\u201d The donation is permanent and the skeleton is now on long-term view. <\/p>\n
When David Aaron gallery first acquired the fossil, which was excavated in 2021-22 on the Skull Creek site in Moffat County, Colorado, it was thought the specimen was a Nanosaurus, considered one of the smallest dinosaurs of the Jurassic period. <\/p>\n
Subsequent research carried out by the NHM has revealed it as a new species, named the Enigmacursor (\u201cenigmatic runner\u201d). Aaron says he first approached the museum about possibly acquiring the fossil several years ago. \u201cThey were very interested and wanted to research it, so I placed it on long-term reserve,\u201d he explains. <\/p>\n
The gallery then took the dinosaur to Frieze Masters. \u201cWe were very fortunate that an existing client, who is a very generous philanthropist, decided to acquire it for the museum,\u201d Aaron adds. The name of the donor remains anonymous, but Aaron says this is the very first dinosaur fossil the couple has acquired. The final sale price has not been disclosed, but is understood to be close to the \u00a3450,000 listed price.<\/p>\n
Until now, the collectors have focused on art. \u201cWe are hoping to create patrons of the sciences,\u201d Aaron says. \u201cYou go to an art museum and the walls are lined with names, which is not the case for the natural history or science museums across the country.\u201d <\/p>\n
He says a younger generation who often work in tech or the sciences are fast emerging as the new collectors of dinosaur and other fossils. Interest is also coming from collectors who buy across other categories. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe last dinosaur fossil I sold privately was to a contemporary art collector, who collects starkly contemporary pieces,\u201d Aaron says. \u201cAnd now he has a dinosaur in his living room, and it looks great. I can guarantee you he gets a lot more questions about his dinosaur fossils than his contemporary art.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The gallery David Aaron has brokered a deal between one of its top American art collecting couples\u2014who are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9929,97803,97804,70,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-254519","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-art-market","9":"tag-dinosaurs","10":"tag-natural-history-museum","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114831120520584783","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}