Antique 'Fox Head' Bought at Auction Wasn't a Fox at All. It Was a Long-Extinct Species.
ScienceAlert · Published on September 4, 2026
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Description
With its googly eyes, lumpy forehead, and awkward almost-smile, the strange, taxidermied fox head at the antique market was funny enough to throw down 50 quid on. When the buyer later sold it at auction, they were stunned to see it go for 1,000 times more than they'd paid for it. That's because this was no fox. This extremely rare specimen was instead the head of an extinct species. "I collect weird and wonderful fox heads – good, bad, and the ugly – to show the differing qualities of taxidermy over the years and by different taxidermists," James Cranfield, a natural-history curiosities dealer in the UK, told ScienceAlert.
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