Stuffed specimen of extinct Slender-billed Curlew finds a deep-pocketed buyer at Yorkshire auction

                                                  

The Slender-billed Curlew - hammer price exceeded expectations

 AFTER frenetic bidding,  a stuffed and mounted specimen of  a Slender-billed Curlew sold this afternoon for a hammer price of £5,000.

This was 10 times the upper tier of the pre-sale guide price of between £300 and £500.

The identity of the buyer is not known but she or he chose to bid within the saleroom in Leyburn, North Yorkshire, rather than by internet or telephone.

The sale was conducted by auction house, Tennants, with taxidermy specialist Robbie Bright starting the bidding at £1,600.

There are believed to have been nine bids before the hammer fell.

Despite many attempts to rediscover it, there has been no verified sighting of a living Slender-billed Curlew since a bird was photographed in Morocco in 1995

Historically its breeding grounds were in bogs in Russia and Kazakhstan with winters spent on coastal mudflats in the Mediterranean and Arabia.

As has so often been  the case with other birds, its demise is generally attributed to hunting and loss of habitat.

It was declared officially  extinct in November last year.

The bird auctioned today is of early 20th century origin and was discovered by auctioneer Robbie Bright as it lay tucked in a box amongst a group of Whimbrels and Eurasian Curlews that were due to be sold as a group without reserve. 

Says Mr Bright : "Specimens of extinct species are always much sought after at auction, as highlighted by the world record achieved by Tennants in 2023 for a pair of extinct New Zealand Huia which sold for £220,000. 

"This Slender-billed Curlew is a very nice example, with old record labels to the base from a Belgian museum, confirming the species."

Robbie Bright: "Specimens of extinct species are always much sought after"