Unique Experiences

Item Description

Dr. Gordon Hubbell —  Shark Paleontologist

Meet Dr. Hubbell in Gainsville, Florida for a tour of his museum*

Dr. Gordon Hubbell is considered one of the world's foremost experts in shark paleontology. In the world of shark paleontology, his name garners respect and admiration. His collection of shark teeth and rare shark jaws and fossil teeth is the largest in the world.

Dr. Hubbell served as the Zoo Veterinarian and Zoo Director for the Miami zoos for more than 30 years before retiring and devoting full time to the study of fossil sharks.  He first became interested in sharks 47 years ago as a sport fisherman.  He fished for sharks in the evenings and on weekends catching 170 sharks over 14 years mainly using spinning tackle with a 20 lb. test line.  Some sharks were released, while others were saved for scientific research and a few were consumed.

He collected his first fossil shark teeth 36 years ago in the phosphate mines in Central Florida.  Since then, he has been all over the United States and also made eight trips to Peru collecting fossil shark teeth ranging from a few million years to 90 million years in age. He regularly receives shipments of fossil teeth from collectors in the Africa, Europe and South America as well as the United States.  Numerous living species are the same as, or in some cases the teeth closely resemble, those found in many of  fossil species and he has obtained shark jaws from hundreds of species of extant sharks from researchers and fishermen all over the world to use for comparison in order to identify the fossil specimens. His reference collection of fossil shark teeth and modern shark jaws is the most comprehensive in the United States and one of the best in the world.  The collection is housed in a shark museum that he built on the back of his home.

Dr. Hubbell has many contacts that save specimens for him, and more recently he has concentrated his efforts on acquiring associated sets of fossil shark teeth. These are a group of teeth that all come from one shark that died millions of years ago. These are very rarely found. He currently has 51 associated sets — more than any museum or research collection in the world.

The winning bidder will get to spend several hours with Dr. Hubbell talking about sharks and examining the jaws and fossils in his collection. 

* Dr. Hubbell’s winning bidder will also receive a few specimens of fossil shark teeth from him to take home.

Item Special Note

The objective of this auction is to spotlight individuals and organizations working effectively for ocean conservation, and raise funds for field research, education and conservation projects.

Being auctioned is dinner or lunch with one the world’s foremost shark experts or celebrities. This is a unique opportunity to “talk shark” face-to-face, one-on-one, with a real authority on sharks. 

How it works:

1. Bid on a celebrity, shark scientist or conservationist that lives or works in your area, unless you are willing to drive or fly to meet them in their area.
2. The winning bidder pays for the lunch or dinner and may bring guests.
3. We will introduce the winning bidder to the celebrity, scientist or conservationist. The two of you then set a mutually agreeable date, time and place to meet within one year of the close of the auction.

All winning bids are deductible from US Federal 2017 income taxes as Charitable Donations.