Exceptionally Large Tooth of a Tyrannosaurus Rex
Late Cretaceous Period (approx. 67 million years ago) Hell Creek Formation, Garfield Co., Montana
Auction Closed
July 16, 06:46 PM GMT
Estimate
40,000 - 60,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Exceptionally Large Tooth of a Tyrannosaurus rex
Tyrannosaurus rex
Late Cretaceous Period (approx. 67 million years ago)
Hell Creek Formation, Garfield Co., Montana
6 inches (15.2 cm) in length, measured base to tip along anterior edge, including partially preserved root. 7½ inches (19.1 cm) tall on stand.
This outstanding specimen represents an exceptionally large and well-preserved maxillary tooth. The crown is robust and complete with intact enamel showing several fine stress fissures. The fragmented root is without restoration. The serrations show wear, and the tip shows minor wear but is complete. The enamel exhibits a rich walnut brown patina.
Excavated by "Lucky" Luke Phipps on his family's privately owned land in the Hell Creek Formation, Garfield County, Montana
AN EXTREMELY LONG AND ROBUST UPPER TOOTH FROM THE MOST FEARSOME DINOSAUR EVER TO LIVE
No animal elicits a combination of fascination, fear, and reverance quite like that of Tyrannosaurus rex, the "tyrant lizard king." Dominating the western landscape of Late Cretaceous North America, T. rex's five-foot-long skull was packed with 60 teeth and featured a bone-crushing bite force of nearly 13,000 pounds per square inch, the strongest of any terrestrial animal other than Gorgosaurus, its tyrannosaur relative. In comparison to other carnivorous theropods, Tyrannosaurus rex teeth are proportionally huge. Robust and thickly-enameled crowns strengthened dozens of teeth, with serrations on both the posterior and anterior edges. The almost unrivaled power of this 40-foot-long (12.2 meter) apex predator allowed it to hunt virtually every large dinosaur in its environment, including Triceratops, Ankylosaurus, Ornithomimus, Pachycephalosaurus, Edmontosaurus, and even other tyrannosaurs.