Mastodon Tooth Found For Sale at Christian Charity: 12,000 Year Old Elephant Bone Donated to Museum
One dinosaur was very generous.
In The Image, a Christian charity in Grand Rapids, MO, received ancient mastodon parts in their donation box. Typically, the charity receives shoes and clothing which they share with city residents. This time, however, tooth fragments and a tusk from the elephant-related creature were the bounty.
"It's pretty amazing the things we get," Jay Starkey, the charity's executive director, said in an interview with FoxNews.com. "I just looked at it and said, 'This is something different.'"
The tooth is covered in lacquer and broken into two. It is about the same size as a loaf of bread. John Timmer, an employee of the charity's warehouse, found the pieces in July.
"I picked it up, and it looked like a tooth," Timmer told ABC News. "The root was intact, and it was cracked enough so you could see enamel. It definitely looked like some sort of tooth, but I didn't really know what to do with it."
The tusk, which is also covered in lacquer, is about 10-inches long and is hollowed out at one end. According to museum experts, it was probably carved at some point.
Both pieces have been donated by In The Image to the Grand Rapids Public Museum. This month, the museum will add the pieces to its educational collection.
"It's worth more that it'll be part of an educational program," Starkey told FoxNews.com. "We believe in that process."
"This is kind of an oddball way for something to come in," Tim Priest, Grand Rapids Public Museum collections manager, told The Grand Rapids Press.
Mastodons used to roam around the area that is now Michigan; their fossils often turn up from underground.
Both the tooth and the tusk are estimated to be 12,000-15,000-years old. The tusk is suspected to come from a mastodon, but that has yet to be confirmed.
The charity cannot be sure who donated the tooth and tusk since the donation box was not inspected when the crew picked it up.
Other strange donations given to In The Image include drugs, which are common, an urn of someone's ashes, divorce papers and a painting worth about $5,000, which was also donated to the Grand Rapids museum.
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