London family finds rare Tasmanian tiger head under bed, set to fetch up to £50,000 at auction

A family living in London has discovered a rare mounted taxidermy head of an extinct thylacine, also known as the Tasmanian tiger, inside a box stored under a bed. The specimen had been forgotten in storage for decades. It is one of only three known mounted thylacine heads in the world. It is due to be sold at Auctioneum in Bath, where experts expect it to sell for between £30,000 and £50,000. The discovery comes after the same auction house sold another mounted thylacine head. That earlier specimen had plastic googly eyes attached by a previous owner. It was bought at an antiques market for £50 before being sold to collector James Cranfield for £50,000. The price reached £60,000 after buyer fees were added.Discovery under a London bedThe family contacted Auctioneum after seeing news reports about the earlier thylacine sale. They brought in a wooden box that had been kept under a bed in their London home for years. The family had not known what was inside or how valuable it might be. Auction house staff gave the newly discovered specimen the nickname "Trevor" while they examined and valued it. X-ray scans showed that the animal's original skull was still intact inside the taxidermy...