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Russell Crowe once bought a dinosaur head from Leonardo DiCaprio for £27,000 when he was drunk

NEW YORK - OCTOBER 05: Actors Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio attend the premiere of "Body of Lies" at the Frederick P. Rose Theater on October 5, 2008 in New York City.  (Photo by Jemal Countess/WireImage)
Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio attend the premiere of "Body of Lies" on October 5, 2008 in New York City. (Photo by Jemal Countess/WireImage)

For most, a kebab might be the most ostentatious purchase following a night on the shandy, but for Russell Crowe this is small beer.

He once dropped $35,000 on a dinosaur head (about £27,500) when he was in an advanced state of refreshment at Leonardo DiCaprio's house.

Leo, along with Nicolas Cage, are known to be a big fans of such ancient artefacts, and have spent tens of thousands of dollars on them over the years.

Read more: Nic Cage to return stolen dino skull

Crowe, however, just happened to stumble – perhaps literally – upon the sale.

He told Howard Stern: “I bought it for my kids, and you know, cut myself a little bit of slack here, there was a bunch of vodka involved in the transaction and it happened at Leonardo’s house.

“[DiCaprio] started the conversation, he’s like, ‘I got this one, but there’s another one coming on the market that I really want so I’m trying to sell this one,’ and I said, ‘Well, I’ll buy it.’ I said ‘How much you want for it?’ He was pretty cool about it, he said, ‘Just give me what I paid for it,’ and I think he paid 30, 35 grand for it.

LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 05:  Leonardo DiCaprio arrives fo the LA Premiere Of HBO's "Ice On Fire"held at LACMA on June 5, 2019 in Los Angeles, California.  (Photo by Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)
Leonardo DiCaprio (Credit: Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)

“Part of the reason for buying it is that when I did buy it around 2008, 2009, my kids, particularly my oldest, were fascinated [with] dinosaurs, so I said, ‘Here you go, here’s one for the playroom.'”

Read more: Olivia Newton-John auctioning off her Grease outfit

Crowe ended up selling the head last year, however, as part of his 'The Art of Divorce' auction, in which he sold off a huge swathe of his movie memorabilia to mark his parting ways with now ex-wife Danielle Spencer.

And Rusty got the last laugh, selling it for $65,000 (just over £50,000), almost doubling his money.

However, he added to Stern that the head of the Mosasaur, from the Late Cretaceous period, has shot up in value since he sold it, perhaps even doubled.

Though he admitted: “It was not a very popular dinosaur.”