A Lawrence man is contemplating whether to sell 500-year-old moa bones salvaged from a dump after a push by conservationists to ban the practice.
Peter Hall has six moa bones he and his son, Matthew, found in 1984.
They garnered the remains when, while living in Dunedin, the two took a trip to the Green Island landfill to drop some things off.
His son, then about 10, became intrigued when he noticed a man dumping a trailer-load of large bones.
''Matthew, being a curious little guy, said: 'I wonder what they are'. He grabbed an armful, probably about 15.''
He never discovered who the man dumping the bones was.
Mr Hall said since then he gave a few bones to collectors and had six left.
Recently, Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage joined the call to ban the practice of selling them.
This comes as conservationists push for Trade Me to stop allowing the bones to be listed.
Bones from extinct animals are able to be sold unless they are found on Department of Conservation land or an archaeological site.
Mr Hall said he always wondered how much he could sell them for.
''I was going to slice them into slivers, cover them in resin and put them into key rings. That would probably make me a few thousand dollars, but I can't really be bothered.''
They mostly just sat in his garage ''getting in the way'', he said.
''I saw one for sale for $3000. It'd be great to get $3000 for each of them. I don't need the damn things. Why would you need more than one.''
He called the sale ban call as ''a bit of a knee-jerk thing ... but that's just my opinion''.
His son now lives in Perth and is a collector of many things, including records and military memorabilia.
