'HOLY GRAIL'

‘Stuffed Fox’ Turns Out to Be Extinct Animal Worth $84K

An antiques shopper bought the googly-eyed head on impulse, unaware it was an incredibly rare extinct animal.

A stuffed “fox head” with googly eyes has sold for $84,000 after bidders realized it may actually be an extremely rare tiger species. The anonymous seller bought the mounted head for just £50 at a West Country antiques fair three months ago because its googly eyes made them laugh. They then put it up for auction with Auctioneum Ltd in Bristol, which initially gave it a reserve price of £28. Taxidermy enthusiast James Cranfield spotted the listing and suspected its teeth belonged to a Tasmanian tiger, an extinct carnivorous mammal once found in Australia. Cranfield, 38, traveled from Essex to inspect the specimen before the auction and became convinced it was genuine. Another bidder apparently made the same discovery, sparking an unexpected bidding war that ended at £62,000. “When we told the vendor how much it had sold for, I thought they were about to pass out,” auctioneer Andrew Stowe said. “I actually had to offer them a chair.” Cranfield, who won the auction, called the discovery “the holy grail” for natural history collectors. The last known thylacine died at Tasmania’s Hobart Zoo in 1936. The mounted head is now undergoing testing to confirm its identity.