Rare dodo bones sell for over £45,000 at Billingshurst auction
The bones belonged to late naturalist Ralfe Whistler - who's private collection has been described as "the largest in the world"
The rare bones of a Dodo have been sold for over £45,000 at an auction in Billingshurst.
They were part of artworks and artefacts owned by late naturalist Ralfe Whistler, who transformed his Hastings home into a shrine for the extinct bird.
The bird died out in the 1600s, however many of their remains were discovered in a swamp in Mauritius by naturalist George Clarke 200 years later.
Extinct bird expert Errol Fuller - who's written books on the bird - said that this discovery would eventually lead to the beginning of Whistler's immense collection.
He said: "The man that found them in the 1860s became friendly with a man that lived in Hastings, called Mr Parkin - and he was a friend of Ralfe Whistler's father.
"When Ralfe's father died, Ralfe was just a little boy - so he was given them.
"They've been in his hands for seventy, eighty years."
One of those bones discovered by Clarke, alongside a letter from his daughter, sold today for £23,000.
When asked why the Dodo is worth so much, he described it as the "Marilyn Monroe of extinct birds."
"The actual skeletal remains of them are very, very rare in private hands.
"A number of museums have got them, but privately, they're not owned really.
"So the fact that these ones have come up for sale from this celebrated collector ... is kind of an unusual event."
The second part of Whistler's collection is being sold in a sealed bid auction tomorrow.