Koller - Out of This World Tuesday, 28 June 2022, 4pm

1858* DODO BONE Raphus cucullatus 12.5 x 3.5 cm Provenance: Swiss private collection `But who has won?‘ This question the Dodo could not answer without a great deal of thought, and it sat for a long time with one finger pressed upon its forehead (the position in which you usually see Shakespeare, in the pictures of him), while the rest waited in silence. At last the Dodo said, `Everybody has won, and all must have prizes.‘ Alice in Wonderland, 1865 When Portuguese sailors reached the island of Mau- ritius in 1507, they encountered a strange unknown species of bird which they named the Dodo. The Dodo grew to about one meter tall and weighed around 20 kilos. It had greyish plumage with small wings. Even though they looked like birds, Dodos were completely unable to fly. With the arrival of the Europeans and the animals they introduced, the dodo had new enemies and by 1690 they were com- pletely extinct. There are only very few completely preserved dodo specimens in the world. There is a head and a foot in the Collection of the Oxford University Museum of National History. In 2016, the dodo genome was sequenced and there are individual efforts to consider a revival of the birds. This Dodo femur offered here is in very good condition and shows small cracks due to age. CHF 5 000 / 8 000 (€ 4 850 / 7 770) | 60 Out of This World | Natural History, Space Exploration & Entertainment Memorabilia