Dilemmas, Dilemmas.
My dad is a font of fatherly wisdom.
When I was a teenager, we were at a rock and mineral show, and someone there had a genuine Smilodon skull. For reasons that currently escape me, they were asking some ridiculously low sum of money for it. An arm, as opposed to an arm and a leg.
This was right when my dad's company was folding. Colleagues were deserting left and right, and our family's financial future was not looking so rosy. In fact, it was looking pretty grim.
He didn't buy it and he is, to this day, kicking himself for not buying it. It would have hurt, yes, but he knows damn well that he is never again going to come across another opportunity like that. Not ever.
Talking to him about it, he expressed regret. "I still would have been able to put you through school. We wouldn't have gone hungry or naked. And I don't remember what I did spend it on. I have no idea where that money went. I don't even remember what specific thing was deviling me so much that I felt like I couldn't part with the cash. What I remember is that I had the money in the bank, and I should have bought the fucking thing when I had the chance."
My dad is an accountant, and is one of the most responsible guys I know. He's the exact opposite of the "spend it if you have it" sort of person who goes around buying neat but unnecessary shit left and right. For him to have said that indicates a sincere, bone-deep regret; a missing mental tooth that is going to trouble him for the rest of his dorky, fossil-collecting days.
"Sometimes you see something, and you have to have it. And in twenty years, it won't matter that you were late paying your bills for six months because you bought it. You don't remember skipped bills and skipped meals. What you will remember is that you were smart enough to take the shot."
I very badly want to call him and ask for his advice, because I've run across what could be one of these situations, and I am practically crapping out my own thumbnails trying to decide whether this is one of those opportunities.
You know (or you do now) that I collect bones, both cranial and post-cranial, with an emphasis on carnivore skulls. I've got a nice little grouping in my bedroom: bobcat, fox, coyote, dog, and wolf. All legally obtained, all beautiful specimens, especially the wolf and the bobcat.
I have access to a nearly-perfect adult spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) skull, ethically obtained, maceration-cleaned.
The spotted hyena has been on my most-wanted short list for many years, and I have been watching for an acceptable one to become available through the limited channels I will buy from. Frankly, specimens this fine don't come along often -- not from people I'm comfortable dealing with. I am not going to say what they're asking for it, but I will say that the price is neither too high nor ridiculously low. I have the money, it won't put me in hock or create any great hardship.
It is still a very large -- ridiculously large -- amount of money to drop on a bone. Even if it is something I have always wanted, and will always want.
I am so very torn.
ETA: The photo above is a high-quality replica. I now have pictures of the actual skull in question, here and here and here. You can see in that last picture the only area of damage the skull has sustained. One of the protrusions flanking the foramen magnum has broken off.
When I was a teenager, we were at a rock and mineral show, and someone there had a genuine Smilodon skull. For reasons that currently escape me, they were asking some ridiculously low sum of money for it. An arm, as opposed to an arm and a leg.
This was right when my dad's company was folding. Colleagues were deserting left and right, and our family's financial future was not looking so rosy. In fact, it was looking pretty grim.
He didn't buy it and he is, to this day, kicking himself for not buying it. It would have hurt, yes, but he knows damn well that he is never again going to come across another opportunity like that. Not ever.
Talking to him about it, he expressed regret. "I still would have been able to put you through school. We wouldn't have gone hungry or naked. And I don't remember what I did spend it on. I have no idea where that money went. I don't even remember what specific thing was deviling me so much that I felt like I couldn't part with the cash. What I remember is that I had the money in the bank, and I should have bought the fucking thing when I had the chance."
My dad is an accountant, and is one of the most responsible guys I know. He's the exact opposite of the "spend it if you have it" sort of person who goes around buying neat but unnecessary shit left and right. For him to have said that indicates a sincere, bone-deep regret; a missing mental tooth that is going to trouble him for the rest of his dorky, fossil-collecting days.
"Sometimes you see something, and you have to have it. And in twenty years, it won't matter that you were late paying your bills for six months because you bought it. You don't remember skipped bills and skipped meals. What you will remember is that you were smart enough to take the shot."
I very badly want to call him and ask for his advice, because I've run across what could be one of these situations, and I am practically crapping out my own thumbnails trying to decide whether this is one of those opportunities.
You know (or you do now) that I collect bones, both cranial and post-cranial, with an emphasis on carnivore skulls. I've got a nice little grouping in my bedroom: bobcat, fox, coyote, dog, and wolf. All legally obtained, all beautiful specimens, especially the wolf and the bobcat.
I have access to a nearly-perfect adult spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) skull, ethically obtained, maceration-cleaned.
The spotted hyena has been on my most-wanted short list for many years, and I have been watching for an acceptable one to become available through the limited channels I will buy from. Frankly, specimens this fine don't come along often -- not from people I'm comfortable dealing with. I am not going to say what they're asking for it, but I will say that the price is neither too high nor ridiculously low. I have the money, it won't put me in hock or create any great hardship.
It is still a very large -- ridiculously large -- amount of money to drop on a bone. Even if it is something I have always wanted, and will always want.
I am so very torn.
ETA: The photo above is a high-quality replica. I now have pictures of the actual skull in question, here and here and here. You can see in that last picture the only area of damage the skull has sustained. One of the protrusions flanking the foramen magnum has broken off.
