Salomon Aaron

You know, if you are a art gallery and you want to exhibit at the best art fairs in the world, there are certain vetting requirements you need to fulfill.

And so the dinosaur market doesn't have that same level of scrutiny for now.

As the numbers are increasing and there are kind of

way more private collectors interested in acquiring and building private collections of dinosaur fossils and also new museums being formed around the world.

The market as a result is kind of developing new systems to be more transparent and also to better present completeness.

I think it's all of the above.

Ideally, there are climates that make it easier to dig in.

Like for example, you can't dig when it's snowing.

When it's too hot, it becomes quite difficult also.

And you need that kind of churn of weather that kind of mixes up the earth and makes it easier.

It's all of the above.

It's a great question.

So when my dad, for example, when we're discussing antiquities or Islamic art and we acquire a new piece, we'll immediately sit down and my dad will say, this is exactly like the one that appeared in 98 at auction.

This is exactly like the one that appears in this catalog in 72.

And I saw one in Paris.

And that doesn't exist.

And the issue with the dinosaur fossil market is that the prices, and I'll give you kind of concrete examples, is so all over the place.

Because take, for instance, which was kind of a watershed moment in the dinosaur fossil market, which was the sale of Stand.

It was a super complete, high profile, widely published, iconic T-Rex skeleton acquired by the Abu Dhabi Natural History Museum in 2020 or 2021 at Christie's.

That made $31 million.