TAXIDERMY HEAD BOUGHT FOR £50 SELLS FOR £60,000 AS EXTINCT TIGER

A taxidermy head purchased for £50 at a West Country antiques fair has sold at auction for £60,000 after being identified as a Tasmanian tiger specimen. The seller originally bought the item as a novelty because of googly eyes attached to it, believing it to be a fox head. James Cranfield purchased the piece at auction after competing against another bidder who also recognised its true identity. Auctioneers described the discovery as unbelievably rare, noting that complete taxidermy heads of the species are virtually non-existent outside major national museums.

The Tasmanian tiger, known scientifically as the thylacine, was a marsupial native to Australia and New Guinea. The species was hunted to extinction, with the last known living specimen dying in 1936. Complete preserved heads of the animal are considered museum-quality pieces and rarely appear on the open market. The final sale price, including buyer's fees, totalled approximately £60,000.

Auctioneers have characterised the find as a one-of-a-kind discovery. The identification represents one of the few surviving complete taxidermy heads of the thylacine outside major institutional collections. The sale demonstrates the significant value placed on rare natural history specimens, particularly those from extinct species with minimal surviving physical evidence.