By Tim Binnall
A one-of-a-kind taxidermied Tasmanian Tiger head recently sold for a staggering $80,000 at an auction in England. The peculiar-looking piece was reportedly purchased earlier this year at an antiques market by an anonymous individual who paid around $70 for what they thought was a stuffed fox head adorned with amusing googly eyes. However, when the piece was listed at an auction of Victorian antiques earlier this month, it quickly caught the attention of collector James Cranfield, who suspected that the animal had been misidentified and, in fact, its true nature was rather amazing.
"The more I looked at it over a period of about ten days," he explained, "I was adamant it was a thylacine" or Tasmanian Tiger as the creature was colloquially known. Cranfield's theory was confirmed on the day of the sale when he drove three-and-a-half hours to the auction house to lay eyes on the taxidermied head. "For natural history collectors like myself, this is the find of multiple lifetimes," he declared, "it really is the holy grail." To that end, the piece is the only mounted head of the long-extinct creature known to exist. "It is an incredibly rare thing," Cranfield marveled, "it is only one of one."
The collector initially seemed poised to pull off something of a steal, since the misidentified 'fox head' was expected to fetch only around $50. However, another prospective buyer at the sale had also realized the true nature of the item, which sparked a bidding war that culminated with Cranfield paying approximately $80,000 for the piece. "When we told the vendor how much it had sold for, I thought they were about to pass out," auctioneer Andrew Stowe recalled, "I actually had to offer them a chair; they couldn't believe it!" Cranfield has since attempted to have the taxidermied head valued by experts, but its remarkable rarity has made that somewhat difficult. “It is priceless," he marveled, "there is nothing else to benchmark it against.”