Prized UK Jurassic fossil collection sold to Abu Dhabi as British museums lack funds

A private fossil collector in Dorset spent years assembling what experts now describe as one of the most significant collections of Jurassic specimens ever recovered from British soil. The 318 specimens—ichthyosaurs, fish, crustaceans, and creatures that may represent entirely new species—came from the Lower Lias rock formations around Lyme Regis and Charmouth, part of the UNESCO-protected Jurassic Coast. Chris Moore, the collector, had spent his life hunting these rocks, developing the expertise and patience required to extract and prepare fossils for scientific study. When the time came to find a permanent home for his life's work, he offered the collection first to British institutions. The Natural History Museum in London and Amgueddfa Cymru in Wales both received the offer. The asking price was described in internal communications as an eight-figure sum. Both museums declined. Neither had the money.

The rejection was not casual. An email obtained by the Guardian revealed the Natural History Museum had "no money at all" for acquisitions. A curator involved in the decision acknowledged the bind: the collection was scientifically invaluable, but the institution lacked not just funds but storage space, curatorial time, and even the materials needed to package and transport such a large assemblage. The curator did not blame Moore. "That's all they can do," the curator said. "They can't sit on these things forever." But the curator also saw the pattern emerging—as private collectors age, they will face this same impossible choice again and again. The question hanging over the conversation was stark: who bears responsibility for preserving the nation's natural heritage?

Moore followed the voluntary codes that govern fossil collecting along England's Jurassic Coast. The west Dorset fossil collecting code requires that collectors offering category 1 specimens—those of significant scientific importance—must first present them to UK-registered museums for six months before seeking buyers elsewhere. Moore did exactly this. When no British museum could afford to buy, he was free to sell overseas. In August 2025, the collection went to the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi. By November, it was on public display in the Mesozoic Gallery.

The sale has exposed a peculiar vulnerability in British law. Unlike Mongolia and Brazil, which treat all fossils found within their borders as state property, the UK has no such protection. Fossils belong to whoever owns the land where they are found, and once that ownership transfers to a collector, those specimens can be sold to anyone, anywhere, with no export restrictions. There is no requirement to report the sale to authorities. A fossil that has spent millions of years in British rock can be purchased by a foreign museum, a private collector, or a wealthy individual with no legal impediment. The law treats a scientifically priceless ichthyosaur the same way it treats a common ammonite sold for a few pounds on an online marketplace.

Richard Butler, a paleobiology professor at the University of Birmingham, called the Moore collection "of national significance." He said it would have been "wonderful" to see these fossils displayed in a UK museum, engaging British audiences with their own geological heritage. "This sale raises important questions," he added, "about whether more should be done to preserve important and irreplaceable natural heritage such as this for the benefit of the UK public." The Abu Dhabi museum's response was measured and philosophically grounded. A spokesperson noted that all natural history museums tell the story of Earth's evolution using fossils from multiple countries. "If we are to tell a 4.2 billion-year story of the evolution of life on Earth, all museums must travel both spatially and temporally with their collections," the statement read. The Moore collection, they noted, is now accessible to the public and available to international researchers.

Experts are divided on what should happen next. Some paleontologists argue that the current system, while imperfect, has merit. A ban on collecting would likely mean many important specimens would never be found at all—they would remain locked in rock, undiscovered. Collectors like Moore are often the only people with the skill, dedication, and local knowledge to extract and prepare fossils properly. Erin Maxwell, an expert in Early Jurassic marine vertebrates, suggested a middle path: the state should have "the right of first refusal" to acquire important collections at cost before export is permitted, rather than forcing sellers to seek market prices. If the state declines, she said, sale to a foreign museum is "a best-case scenario." Phil Davidson, a paleontologist at Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre, emphasized that what matters most is that specimens of scientific importance end up in public collections where researchers can study them. "The location of where the museum collection is housed is secondary," he said. Countless important specimens are already housed outside their country of origin, often simply because that is where the relevant expertise happens to be based.

The Moore collection now sits in Abu Dhabi, on display and accessible. It is not lost. But it is also not in Britain, and British museums and British researchers will study it as visitors, not as custodians. The sale has crystallized a question that will only grow more urgent as private collectors age and seek to place their collections: Does a nation have a responsibility to preserve its own natural heritage? And if so, what is that responsibility worth?