A triceratops skull unearthed on an eastern Montana ranch sold for just over $250,000 in an online auction by Heritage Auction Galleries of Dallas. The unknown buyer, paid $250,950 for the skull, which measures 7 1/2 feet long and more than 5 feet wide.

The skull was found more than a decade ago on a ranch in Wibaux County, and was stored at the ranchers house until a Canadian fossil dealer purchased the skull and had it prepared for auction. The rancher who found the fossil also wants to remain anonymous.

“It’s not surprising that this triceratops skull would attract such interest,” said David Herskowitz, Director of Natural History at Heritage. “This is a once in a lifetime find, an object of startling beauty and rarity and one of the most pristine dinosaur fossils on the planet. That seems to me like $250,000 well spent.”

The much-anticipated Triceratops skull wowed the auction audience with its sheer enormity and daunting presence. It had onlookers standing several deep around the imposing relic, situated in the center of the Heritage showroom, each jockeying for a better view of the commanding dinosaur cranium, almost fully intact, giving those close to it a breathtaking feel for what it might have been like to be next to the living breathing thing. It’s safe to say that getting this close to a real Triceratops would have been close to impossible; for many in the room it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

“The triceratops skull is one of the biggest ever found,” said Herskowitz. “There was a lot of speculation about whether a buyer would come forward with the economy in its current state. The short answer is: Yes. High quality, rare examples of Natural History, like those we had in this auction, will always find a place.”

Another rare skeleton of a triceratops was the star attraction at a Christie's auction in Paris, in early 2008. It was only the second dinosaur fossil of that size ever to go under the hammer and was unearthed from the badlands of North Dakota in 2004. The triceratops skeleton belonged to a European collector who had it on display alongside two other dinosaur fossils in his private museum. Bidding started at $854.000.

In October 1997 a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton named Sue, after the woman that found it, was sold at auction for $8.3million.

So, dinosaur fans it might just pay to keep looking for those elusive fossils

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