Hollywood Goes Nuts Over Walrus Penis

By Pamela Mortimer

It’s a weird thing to want to hang in your living room, but some collectors don’t see it that way. The latest "must have" item on the auction block at the I.M. Chait Gallery in Beverly Hills is a 4 ½ foot long mummified walrus penis. The bone, covered with weathered skin and dried muscle tissue, came from a species of walrus that has been extinct for 12,000 years.

Scientists and educators aren’t the only ones who will meet the starting bid of $16,000. Business gurus and A-list Hollywood celebs are expected to place bids on lot #127, only a part of the natural history auction at Chait. Also on the auction block are a pair of mating 40 million-year-old insects, estimated at $700 - $900; a complete, fully mounted, 20-foot-long fossil skeleton of an aquatic dinosaur from the Cretaceous period called a Mososaurus, estimated value of $100,000 - $140,000; a Mammoth tusk from the Pleistocene period, estimated value of $14,000 - $18,000; and a 1.94 gram piece of the Moon, estimated value of $5,500 to $6,500. Also among the 200-plus lots are meteorites, dinosauria, archeological artifacts, and gems and minerals.

This is a fabulous auction," said Josh Chait, Director of Operations at the I.M. Chait Gallery. "We are privileged to have such an interesting and comprehensive collection of amazing, one-of-kind natural history finds."

One concern of scientists is that private entities who collect such rare archaeological finds are prone to keep them under lock and key, whether it’s in a private museum or at their homes. In effect, the fossil or archaeological remnant is not available for public viewing or for research purposes. Despite the formerly academic practice, the fossil collecting bug has bitten interior designers and A-list celebs like Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard, and Nicholas Cage. However, you don’t have to be a millionaire to show off your historical savvy. There are artifacts that nearly anyone can afford and many designers are interested in negotiating deals on items for their clients’ homes.

"It's not like you have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars. You can get decent pieces that are unique and ancient for a couple hundred," Chait said.

Kevin Padian, a paleontologist at the University of California, Berkeley, has another concern. With the popularity of archaeological artifacts growing, more and more untrained people are digging to find a little piece of history. Unlike scientific researchers, the average Joe may be unaware of the importance of the item’s position in the ground or what else might be in the area.

According to Padian, researchers and educators lose when commercial prospectors "rip stuff out of the ground and clean it up to sell it".

"It might look to you like an old ash tray, but the position a fossil is found in tells you a lot," he said. "Is every little scrap of bone and mud valuable scientific information? No, but commercial collectors and dealers aren't qualified to say."