Tasmanian tiger head bought for £50 sells for £50,000 at UK auction

A taxidermied animal head purchased by an anonymous buyer for £50 at an antiques market in the West Country, UK, has turned out to be a rare specimen that sold for £50,000 at a Bristol auction after it was identified as belonging to the extinct Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine.

The buyer originally thought the head belonged to a fox, attracted by its comically bulging glass eyes. However, the true nature of the specimen was later discovered, transforming the modest purchase into one of the most notable sales related to this extinct animal in recent years, according to The Telegraph.

Auction house Auctioneum in Bristol saw fierce bidding for the head last week, with James Cranfield ultimately securing it for £50,000, plus an additional £10,000 in fees.

Cranfield had suspected the head’s true identity when he saw it in the auction catalogue, prompting him to examine it in person. He later confirmed it was "the only known head of its kind from this extinct species in existence."

Andrew Stowe, the auction manager, said: "When we told him the final amount, I thought he might faint, so I offered him a chair to sit down."

The specimen’s significance stems from the extreme rarity of taxidermied thylacine remains. The auction house noted that complete, preserved examples of this animal are almost nonexistent outside major world museums, describing the head as "one of the most important specimens sold in recent years."

The thylacine was a marsupial native to Australia and Tasmania, officially declared extinct in 1936 after the last known individual died at Hobart Zoo. This has made any surviving specimens highly sought after by scientists and collectors.

As a result, the head’s value soared from £50 at the antiques market to £50,000 at auction—a thousandfold increase over its original price.