Nevertheless, they had exposed the skeleton; the dig measured in width, in length and in depth. When paleontologist Henry Fairfield Osborn, manager of the American Museum of Natural History, learned about the new find, he immediately sent staff member and paleontologist Albert Thomson, to attempt to secure it for the museum. Osborn knew about the agreement between Sternberg and the British Museum, which gave the latter rights to acquire any of the finds; he appealed to Sternberg's patriotism and promised permanent exhibition of the fossil. When Thomson arrived, he was unable to evaluate the fossil as it had already been wrapped in burlap and shellac for transport, yet the asking price of $2,000 () was high. On the same day as Thomson, William Jacob Holland, director of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, arrived at Lusk. Osborn, now worried about losing his opportunity, quickly acquired the specimen for an unknown sum. At the American Museum, preparation of the skin impressions was completed by preparator Otto Falkenbach. Subsequently, the mummy was scientifically described by Osborn himself and the famous paleontologist Barnum Brown in three articles published in 1911 and 1912, and afterwards was put on display. In the exhibition, the mummy, protected by a glass showcase, is shown lying on its back as it was discovered; the museum decided not to restore missing parts. Today, the mummy is regarded as one of the museum's most important fossils. It is cataloged under the specimen number AMNH 5060. AMNH 5060 is considered one of the best preserved dinosaur fossils ever discovered. The scientific value of the mummy lies in its exceptionally high degree of preservation, the articulation of the bones in their original anatomical position, and the extensive skin impressions enveloping the specimen. In 1911, Osborn concluded:  As dinosaur skin impressions were previously known only from a few fragments, the mummy became a paleontological sensation. As noted by Osborn in 1912, the famous holotype specimen of "Trachodon mirabilis" (AMNH 5730), found in 1884 by Jacob Wortman, originally also contained extensive skin impressions, but most had been destroyed during excavation, leaving only three fragments from the tail region. As explained by Osborn, the very thin layer containing the skin impressions in the stone is difficult to detect, and many such impressions might have been lost in previous years as they were not expected nor recognized by excavators. In his 1911 description, Osborn coined the term "dinosaur mummy" for the specimen.