A ‘fox head’ taxidermy bought for just £50 at a market has sold for £60,000 – after it was found to be that of an extinct tiger.
The find, originally believed to be a Victorian fox head, has been labelled a ‘one of a kind discovery’ following revelations it is actually the world’s only surviving head of the extinct Tasmanian Tiger.
The Tasmanian Tiger, or Thylacine, has been extinct since 1936 and only a handful of specimens – primarily skins made into rugs – have been sold over the years for hundreds of thousands of pounds.
The ‘fox’ head – purchased three months ago by an anonymous seller – was not expected to fetch much more than its asking price at the West Country antiques fair.
However, after two auction-goers discovered the item’s true identity, a bidding war ensued which culminated in it going under the hammer for £50,000 with £10,000 fees on top.
The Thylacine head was purchased by James Cranfield, a self-described taxidermy and natural history curiosity collector, who has hailed it as a ‘holy grail’ find.
Mr Cranfield, 38, said he initially saw the ‘fox head’ for sale and thought it looked strange.
He said: ‘The more I looked at it over a period of about ten days I started researching I was adamant it was a Thylacine.
A taxidermy believed to be a ‘fox head’ has sold for £60,000 at auction after it was found to be that of an extinct Tasmanian Tiger
The Thylacine head was purchased by James Cranfield, a self-described taxidermy and natural history curiosity collector (Mr Cranfield pictured with the head)
‘You could not tell for sure by the pictures so on the day of the sale I got up at 4am and drove from my home in Essex three and a half hours to the auction house.
‘It was sat on a table surrounded by all sorts of bric-a-brac and pottery. It confirmed exactly what I wanted to know.
‘There is only one documented specimen on the database and its whereabouts are unknown. But the head I now own is the only one in existence.
‘It is incredible.’
The Tasmanian Tiger was driven to the brink by relentless hunting, habitat fragmentation and introduced diseases, causing its numbers to suffer a rapid decline.
The last known Thylacine died at Hobart Zoo in Tasmania, Australia, in 1936, marking its complete extinction.
Only 756 specimens are known to exist of the extinct species and of those only 101 are taxidermy.
Mr Cranfield said he has already tried to have the head valued at other auction houses, but told it wasn’t possible.
The last known Tasmanian Tiger died at Hobart Zoo in Tasmania, Australia, in 1936, marking its complete extinction
Auctioneer Andrew Stowe (pictured) said it was a ‘shock’ to discover his team were sitting on something so ‘special’
‘It is priceless,’ he said. ‘There is nothing else to benchmark it against.’
Mr Cranfield added his plan is to keep the head and use it for the benefit of scientific research.
He said: ‘I just want everyone to know it exists so academics and scientists can contact me to study it. It will be invaluable to science and I want to make it available to institutions.’
Auctioneer Andrew Stowe, of Auctioneum Ltd in Bristol, said it was a ‘shock’ to discover his team were sitting on something so ‘special’.
He said: ‘When we broke the news that it was actually a Thylacine, they were in complete shock.
‘It is unbelievably rare, even replicas of skulls or bones sell for thousands of pounds. To find a complete item like this, is almost unheard of, especially here in the UK.’
Describing the atmosphere on the bidding day, which took place earlier this month, Mr Stowe added: ‘Bids were being called out by bidders in the room, a rare occurrence these days!
‘Bids quickly jumped into the tens-of-thousands, and simply kept on going up.
‘The room went silent, everyone crowded in to watch. It was an amazing moment to witness.’ The hammer eventually fell to a bidder in the room for £50,000, bringing the total price to over £60,000 including buyer fees.’
‘When we told the vendor how much it had sold for, I thought they were about to pass out.
‘I actually had to offer them a chair, they couldn’t believe it. We both agreed that we’d never look at a fox in the same way ever again.’
