LARGE DINOSAUR VERTEBRA
Brachiosauridae
Upper Jurassic
Morrison Formation, Colorado
This impressive vertebra is from a brachiosaurid, the family of massive sauropods that roamed across the globe over 50 million years ago. It was retrieved from the Morrison Formation in Colorado, the most fertile source of dinosaur fossils in North America, and site of the famous "Bone Wars" of the late nineteenth century. Beautifully preserved, it retains fine three-dimensionality and bone texture, and dramatic, protruding double spinal processes (one separated), with a warm woody brown patina throughout, attractively crazed with pale orange-brown, presented on a custom ebonized metal display stand, 23 3/4 inches high overall.