The Lizard in Amber

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

Amber is the result of vitrification of the sap of trees. This transparent material, of golden or brown color, is unalterable. Some pieces of amber include insects. In antiquity, for this reason, amber was the symbol of eternal youth.

The vertebrete animals are extremely rare, but much more interesting than the skeleton fossils because the external look is fully preserved. Heritage Auction Galleries introduces a whole lizard at lot 41,277 from the sale in Dallas on January 18.

This animal 10 cm long was dead before being mired in its eternal resin: it had begun to decay. It is accompanied in its piece of amber by three ants and four small flies.

The inclusion of an animal in amber is easy to counterfeit, but our example is authenticated by a professor of Berkeley University, and would be between 30 and 90 million years old.

It is estimated 90 K$. I give you my opinion: it is too expensive.

[Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa]

I would have bought it if I had the money!
Krishna

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

I did not have a reference price for a paleontological amber. So here is one: K $ 95 including premium.