The Maidstone specimen was discovered in a quarry in Maidstone, Kent, owned by William Harding Bensted, in February 1834 (lower Lower Greensand Formation). In June 1834 it was acquired for £25 by scientist Gideon Mantell. He was led to identify it as an "Iguanodon" based on its distinctive teeth. The Maidstone slab was utilized in the first skeletal reconstructions and artistic renderings of "Iguanodon", but due to its incompleteness, Mantell made some mistakes, the most famous of which was the placement of what he thought was a horn on the nose.