AP/ February 11, 2009, 3:01 PM

Dinosaur Dung Worth Big Bucks At Auction

A pile of dinosaur dung 130 million years old sold at a New York auction for nearly $1,000.

The prehistoric deposit fetched $960 at Wednesday's auction, said a spokeswoman for Bonhams New York. Its pre-auction estimate was $450.

The fossilized dung is from the Jurassic era, the auction house said. It looks like a rock on the outside and a colorful mineral inside.

The buyer was Steve Tsengas of Fairport Harbor, Ohio. The 71-year-old owns OurPets, a company that sells products to treat dog and cat waste.

Tsengas bought the dung in hopes of motivating his employees and using it as a marketing tool by displaying it at the company's booth at trade shows, he said.

"Poop," he said, "is a big business in the pet industry."

The natural history auction also included an 18-carat gold box shaped like a crab by lapidary artist Manfred Wild. It sold for $168,000.

Meteorites from the collection of Ron Oriti sold for $95,313.
© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
134 Comments Add a Comment
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nic1234567-2009 says:
Jimfinster - Good one. At least with Coprolite you don''t have to contend with the smell.
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jimfinster says:
sounds like a bunch of *** to me :)


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nic1234567-2009 says:
Dragonwagon5 - As far as the dinosaur manure goes there hasn''t been much of that. The scientific name for it is Coprolite meaning "dung stone". I''m a little supprise at how much they paid for it.

Take a look at this site for example.
http://bedrockfossils.com/coprolite.html
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nic1234567-2009 says:
Dragonwagon5 - Thats OK no offense was taken.
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nic1234567-2009 says:
Dragonwagon5 - I''m not sure why you paired Jesus Christ and Charles Darwin up given that Christ wasn''t even born until at least 4000 years after God supposedly create the earth. Begin both a Christan and Evolutionist myself my personal perspective is if both where a live to day they would have gotten along swimmingly and wounder what all the fuss was about.
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jimfinster says:
I reckon these 700+ scientists are now regarded as "pseudo-scientists" by the "real" scientists, right atheists/evolutionists?. :rofl:

I wonder what excuse they''''ll come up with now? :huh: :hehe:



Where does the 700 number come from?

What are their specialties?

How many are biologists and qualified to comment on this subject?






Posted by libagenda
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jimfinster says:
libagenda/rick:

Boy, I can tell it really bugs you that science does not support your beliefs!

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nic1234567-2009 says:
Posted by libagenda

Yes Discovery''s list is up to 700 out of tens of thousands in the world. Anyone spot a little intellectual dishonesty here?

But wait, there''s more! Of these scientists, how many would you guess are biologists? If you guessed "a majority," you''d be wrong. How many come from distinguished institutions? Not too awfully many.

As for Dr. Michael Egnor. sorry, but neurosurgery isn''t a skill that necessarily equips one to address questions of evolution.
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nic1234567-2009 says:
I''''m sorry you are "offended" by freedom of speech from those of us who oppose NeoDarwinism and know the fallacies and simple down right lies that are associated with it.
Posted by libagenda

I''m not offended by free speech I''m just having troubles understand your motivation.
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nic1234567-2009 says:
Libagenda seem to believe he is on some kind of self proclaimed religious crusade.

Like many in the Creationist community he equate evolution with atheism. These Creationist have a unfounded fear of the naturalistic explanation to life put forth by evolutionist. For them, a God that does not act supernaturally is equivalent to no god at all.
However there are numerous scientists who embrace both evolution and God. They believe not only that God created a universe in which evolution occurs naturally but that God works constantly in their and other people''s lives. However the same Creationist will often claim that these scientists are not true believers because science excludes GOD in there research.

What they don''t understand is Scientific theories do not include God because scientific theories must be tested. Testing requires holding constant some variables, and no one can %u201Ccontrol%u201D God; therefore, scientific explanations are restricted to the natural causes that are testable and not because of any anti-religion doctrine.
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