The elephant bird may have been the largest bird to ever live, taking root in Madagascar and thriving there until humans caused them to go extinct sometime between the 14th and 17th century. Luckily, we still have fossilized remains, including a recently auctioned giant elephant bird egg, to remember the flightless birds. Apparently, some people are willing to shell out more than others to remember the creature; Christie’s Auction in London recently fetched 66,675 pounds (or $101,813) for the large artifact.
This wasn’t an easy auction to win. According to The AP, there was a lot of back and forth on the item and it took 10 minutes to sell, with a telephone bidder eventually winning the foot-long egg for the aforementioned cost. That would make one hell of an expensive omelet, were it not partially fossilized. The egg was only expected to bring in 20,000 to 30,000 pounds, but managed to pull in more, thanks to some competitive bidders.
The elephant bird’s egg is certainly an impressive specimen, but the amount it brought in doesn’t even rank compared to some of the other auction bids Pop Blend has seen. Just a few months ago, Dorothy’s famous dress from the Wizard of Oz brought in a whopping $480,000 at auction. Other nifty items recently sold at auction include a rare Star Trek phaser selling for $231,000 and a rare copy of a Beatles album sold for $290,500. That sort of makes the elephant egg look like small peas, but I guess if we are considering the effort it must take to put a partially fossilized, foot-long egg on display, I can kind of see why an elephant bird-sized bidding war broke out.
Photo Credit: Christie's Auction House
