The Discovery
Wayne Sedawie, the founder of Opal Auctions, kept an unusual opal in his office drawer for roughly five years, believing it was simply fossilized plant matter. Its true historical significance emerged when a miner from Winton noticed the piece and repeatedly made offers to buy it, eventually offering four times the original price. The miner explained that his father, Bruno Tasic, had uncovered a collection of dinosaur fossils in Winton about 30 years earlier. Sedawie's specimen had become separated from the original find over time, passing through an opal dealer before Sedawie acquired it.
What Scientists Found
To verify the specimen's background, Sedawie arranged an examination through GSL Laboratories. The resulting documentation, based on research by Dr. Andrew Rozefelds, Principal Curator at the Queensland Museum, confirmed that the object is an opalised vertebra from a plant-eating sauropod dinosaur. The creature inhabited the Winton Formation region during the Cretaceous period. The specific sauropod species name is not specified in the source; please check the official notice.
The laboratory certificate connects the bone to a 2014 Queensland Museum publication, In Search of Ancient Queensland: Discovery Guide, which features an image of a piece from the same original discovery that was sold in Las Vegas.
Why It Matters
After learning the fossil's backstory, Sedawie struck a deal with the miner to reunite the related items. He traded a 45-kilogram boulder opal—which had been in his office for about ten years—for the miner's two remaining specimens. This agreement allowed Sedawie to gather the pieces and secure formal documentation establishing their scientific value.
Sedawie hopes the fossilized dinosaur bone will eventually be placed in an Australian museum. Rather than treating the rare specimen merely as a commercial object, he intends for it to be preserved, studied by experts, and displayed to educate the public about Australia's ancient heritage.
Source: dinosaur fossil discovery - BingNews · Published October 19, 2026 · Photo by Patrick von der Wehd on Unsplash