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Creation Museum Selling Mastodon Skull
AP ^ | 1/17/08 | By PAUL J. WEBER

Posted on 01/18/2008 3:01:23 PM PST by xcamel

DALLAS (AP) — A Texas museum that teaches creationism is counting on the auction of a prehistoric mastodon skull to stave off extinction. The founder and curator of the Mt. Blanco Fossil Museum, which rejects evolution and claims that man and dinosaurs coexisted, said it will close unless the Volkswagen-sized skull finds a generous bidder.

"If it sells, well, then we can come another day," Joe Taylor said. "This is very important to our continuing."

Heritage Auction Galleries says the skull is estimated to be 40,000 years old, and projects it will fetch upward of $160,000. The artifact discovered in La Grange in 2004 is believed to be the largest of its kind, Heritage spokesman David Herskowitz said.

The auction will be held Sunday in Dallas, with bids accepted on the Internet until Saturday night.

"We're trying to reach out to someone who would buy it, then reach out to a museum in Texas," Herskowitz said.

Taylor said he would love to keep the skull of the elephant-like mammal as the centerpiece of his tiny museum just outside Lubbock, which includes creationist exhibits.

Claims on the museum's Web site include that Noah took dinosaurs aboard his ark. The prevailing scientific wisdom is that humans and dinosaurs missed each other by tens of millions of years.

Taylor said he's been financially crippled by about $136,000 he's been ordered to pay in a legal dispute over finder's rights to an Allosaurus skeleton unearthed in Colorado. About $141,000 has also been put into the mastodon skull's restoration, he said.

If the mastodon auction doesn't cover the judgment, Taylor said local authorities will seize his 10-year-old museum and sell off its contents in February.

"We've struggled so long here just to keep this thing going," Taylor said. "We're kind of losing interest. You can just tread water for so long."

The Heritage auction will also include other natural history items, including a 26-pound gold nugget found in Mexico that is expected to fetch at least $1 million.


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: antitheism; creation; mastadon; paleo; religion; religiousintolerance
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Get yer popcorn..
1 posted on 01/18/2008 3:01:26 PM PST by xcamel
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To: xcamel

I wonder if the AIG museum in Kentucky will pay for this.


2 posted on 01/18/2008 3:04:39 PM PST by Tamar1973 (Riding the Korean Wave, one recipe at a time http://www.youtube.com/Tamar1973)
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To: xcamel

Nothing like Friday fireworks. Camel, pass the popcorn, would ya?


3 posted on 01/18/2008 3:05:40 PM PST by scottdeus12 (Jesus is real, whether you believe in Him or not.)
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To: xcamel
"You can just tread water for so long."

That's what Noah said.

4 posted on 01/18/2008 3:06:27 PM PST by Migraine (...diversity is great... until it happens to YOU...)
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To: xcamel
Heritage Auction Galleries says the skull is estimated to be 40,000 years old,

That must be a typo. The Museum says that nothing is over 10,000 years old. Could money trump religion?

5 posted on 01/18/2008 3:06:37 PM PST by LeGrande
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To: LeGrande

Maybe the auction house and the museum just disagree.


6 posted on 01/18/2008 3:07:31 PM PST by xjcsa (Thompson/Romney 2008)
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To: xjcsa
Maybe the auction house and the museum just disagree.

My father always told me to follow the money. He was a smart old man : )

7 posted on 01/18/2008 3:10:00 PM PST by LeGrande
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To: LeGrande
That must be a typo. The Museum says that nothing is over 10,000 years old. Could money trump religion?

Well, that's just what the auction house says. But they're a bunch of hell bound heathens so their opinion doesn't count. < /prehistoric elephant sized sarcasm>

8 posted on 01/18/2008 3:11:24 PM PST by KarlInOhio (Rattenschadenfreude: joy at a Democrat's pain, especially Hillary's pain caused by Obama.)
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To: xcamel
The Heritage auction will also include other natural history items, including a 26-pound gold nugget found in Mexico that is expected to fetch at least $1 million.

Oh, that's nice. Leave the most expensive item in the auction as an afterthought in the last line of the article. 26 pounds of gold = $334,000 just for the gold itself.

9 posted on 01/18/2008 3:14:20 PM PST by KarlInOhio (Rattenschadenfreude: joy at a Democrat's pain, especially Hillary's pain caused by Obama.)
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To: xcamel
The prevailing scientific wisdom is that humans and dinosaurs missed each other by tens of millions of years.

This fails to take into consideration that the earth is only 6000 years old and 10 million years could equal a single day to the intelligent designer. Since the 2nd law of thermodynamics makes scientific radio-carbon dating inaccurate by a few years, that proves that dinosaurs and humans walked the earth at the same time.

10 posted on 01/18/2008 3:27:52 PM PST by shuckmaster
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To: xcamel
A skull like that wouldn't be too hard to date. Cost for an AMS radiocarbon date, with surcharge for bone, should be under $700.

But what if it came back over 6,000 years old? (Considering that most of the mastodons in the continental US were extinct by 10,000 years ago, a date older than 6,000 years would be pretty much guaranteed.)

Whoops! Popcorn is right!

11 posted on 01/18/2008 3:28:43 PM PST by Coyoteman (Religious belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge.)
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To: xcamel

Actually, it should be referred to as a ‘Jesus Elephant’...


12 posted on 01/18/2008 3:30:02 PM PST by blowfish
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To: xcamel

What’s the problem?

If the guy owns the fossil, TS for the purist critics that sneer at his rights, his ownership or his desire to sell.

Of course, if you subscribe the ‘precious scientific heritage of all peoples’ concept of fossils ownership vs. traditional private property rights, you might be outraged.

In that case...here’s hoping you become extinct.


13 posted on 01/18/2008 4:33:28 PM PST by WorkingClassFilth
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To: WorkingClassFilth

Hey... I just posted it...
I have no dog in the hunt


14 posted on 01/18/2008 4:43:43 PM PST by xcamel (FDT/2008)
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To: xcamel

But do you have a dog that likes bones? That’s the real question.


15 posted on 01/18/2008 4:45:29 PM PST by durasell (!)
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To: LeGrande
The artifact discovered in La Grange in 2004

And here I read that as "LaGrande" at first... ;-)

16 posted on 01/18/2008 4:48:44 PM PST by Gondring (I'll give up my right to die when hell freezes over my dead body!)
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To: durasell
3 of them, and the fossils on my farm date from earliest stromatolites to favosite coral...
17 posted on 01/18/2008 4:49:02 PM PST by xcamel (FDT/2008)
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To: xcamel

Well, just imagine them going to town on a prehistoric mastodon skull! The ultimate chew toy!


18 posted on 01/18/2008 4:50:30 PM PST by durasell (!)
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To: xcamel

Sorry, you’re clean as the driven snow - I was being rhetorical. If the guy’s a creationist and people want to come his museum or buy his stuff - fine. Some in the scientific community with fascist impulses think this kind of thing is a crime. Personally, I’m for choice - and traditional freedoms. IMO, evolution doesn’t cut the mustard too cleanly either.


19 posted on 01/18/2008 4:55:19 PM PST by WorkingClassFilth
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To: xcamel
[...] the Volkswagen-sized skull [...]


20 posted on 01/18/2008 4:56:25 PM PST by Gondring (I'll give up my right to die when hell freezes over my dead body!)
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