This nearly complete Tyrannosaurus bataar is set to go on auction. It is one of many rare natural history specimens Heritage Auctions plans to sell on May 20. An Asian relative of the North American Tyrannosaurus rex, this specimen's estimated value is between $1.4 and $1.8 million.
Four days before the auction, workers put the specimens to be auctioned off on display. The showroom is open to the public in the days before the auction.
The auction plans to sell not only dinosaur fossils, but also meteorites, tufts of mammoth hair and minerals, including those shown above. Only the taxidermy is not on display.
The tyrannosaur of the minerals, this gold nugget in quartz weighs more than 70 ounces (2 kilograms).
From left to right, a sea lily or crinoid, a pregnant female ichthyosaur and a xiphactinus "bulldog" fish.
A centipede preserved 50 million years ago in stick tree resin, which became amber.
A meteor made of igneous rock from the planet Mars.
An Ankylosaurid from Central Asia.
A cast of one of the few existing skeletons of this now-extinct bird.
