Nicolas Cage's $276,000 Dinosaur Skull

Nicolas Cage's $276,000 Dinosaur Skull: Hollywood's Weirdest Fossil Feud In the pantheon of bizarre celebrity purchases, Nicolas Cage's dinosaur skull acquisition stands in a league of its own. Not just because he dropped a cool $276,000 on an ancient Tyrannosaurus bataar skull, but because it accidentally launched him into an international smuggling investigation. Back in 2007, our national treasure Nicolas Cage found himself in a heated auction battle with Leonardo DiCaprio for this prehistoric prize. Cage emerged victorious, taking home what he thought was just an exotic conversation piece for his eccentric collection. Little did Cage know that his fossil fascination would land him in hot water with the Mongolian government and U.S. authorities. It turns out the skull had been illegally smuggled out of Mongolia's Gobi Desert, where it had rested peacefully for about 70 million years before being thrust into Hollywood drama. Mongolia has strict laws about exporting f...