Current:Home > StocksT. rex skeleton dubbed "Trinity" sold for $5.3M at Zurich auction-InfoLens
T. rex skeleton dubbed "Trinity" sold for $5.3M at Zurich auction
View Date:2024-12-23 10:45:04
Nearly 300 Tyrannosaurus rex bones that were dug up from three sites in the United States and assembled into a single skeleton sold Tuesday at an auction in Switzerland for 4.8 million francs ($5.3 million), below the expected price.
The 293 T. rex bones were assembled into a growling posture that measures 38 feet long and 12.8 feet high. Tuesday's sale was the first time such a T. rex skeleton went up for auction in Europe, said the auction house, Koller.
The composite skeleton was a showpiece of an auction that featured some 70 lots, and the skull was set up next to the auctioneer's podium throughout. The skeleton was expected to fetch 5 million to 8 million Swiss francs ($5.6-$8.9 million).
"It could be that it was a composite — that could be why the purists didn't go for it," Karl Green, the auction house's marketing director, said by phone. "It's a fair price for the dino. I hope it's going to be shown somewhere in public."
Green did not identify the buyer, but said it was a "European private collector." Including the "buyer's premium" and fees, the sale came to 5.5 million Swiss francs (about $6.1 million), Koller said.
Promoters say the composite T. rex, dubbed "Trinity," was built from specimens retrieved from three sites in the Hell Creek and Lance Creek formations of Montana and Wyoming between 2008 and 2013.
- T. rex's ferocious image may have just taken a hit
- T. rex display heats up debate over auctions of dinosaur skeletons: "Harmful to science"
Often lose their heads
Koller said "original bone material" comprises more than half of the restored fossil. The auction house said the skull was particularly rare and also remarkably well-preserved.
"When dinosaurs died in the Jurassic or Cretaceous periods, they often lost their heads during deposition (of the remains into rocks). In fact, most dinosaurs are found without their skulls," Nils Knoetschke, a scientific adviser who was quoted in the auction catalog. "But here we have truly original Tyrannosaurus skull bones that all originate from the same specimen."
T. rex roamed the Earth between 65 and 67 million years ago. A study published two years ago in the journal Science estimated that about 2.5 billion of the dinosaurs ever lived. Hollywood movies such as the blockbuster "Jurassic Park" franchise have added to the public fascination with the carnivorous creature.
The two areas the bones for Trinity came from were also the source of other T. rex skeletons that were auctioned off, according to Koller: Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History bought "Sue" for $8.4 million over a quarter-century ago, and "Stan" sold for nearly $32 million three years ago.
Two years ago, a triceratops skeleton that the Guinness World Records declared as the world's biggest, known as "Big John," was sold for 6.6 million euros ($7.2 million) to a private collector at a Paris auction.
- In:
- Montana
- Science
- Wyoming
veryGood! (2792)
Related
- FBI raids New York City apartment of Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan, reports say
- 2 men plead not guilty to killing former ‘General Hospital’ actor Johnny Wactor
- Flint Gap Fire burns inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park; 10 acres burned so far
- Ex-DC police officer is sentenced to 5 years in prison for fatally shooting man in car
- Kristin Cavallari's Ex Mark Estes Jokingly Proposed to This Love Island USA Star
- 'Incredibly dangerous men': These Yankees are a spectacle for fans to cherish
- Telegram CEO Pavel Durov says he had over 100 kids. The problem with anonymous sperm donation.
- Boar's Head plant linked to listeria outbreak had bugs, mold and mildew, inspectors say
- RHOP's Candiace Dillard Bassett Gives Birth, Shares First Photos of Baby Boy
- How to get rid of body odor, according to medical experts
Ranking
- Lions find way to win, Bears in tough spot: Best (and worst) from NFL Week 10
- Love Is Blind’s Stacy Snyder Comes Out as Queer
- Freeform's 31 Nights of Halloween Promises to Be a Hauntingly Good Time
- Paralympics in prime time: Athletes see progress but still a long way to go
- Dallas Long, who won 2 Olympic medals while dominating the shot put in the 1960s, has died at 84
- The US Appetite for Electricity Grew Massively in the First Half of 2024, and Solar Power Rose to the Occasion
- Powerball winning numbers for August 28: Jackpot rises to $54 million
- Jeff Goldblum on playing Zeus in Netflix's 'KAOS,' singing on set with 'Wicked' co-stars
Recommendation
-
Suspected shooter and four others are found dead in three Kansas homes, police say
-
One Tech Tip: How to get the most life out of your device
-
Judge says ex-Boston Celtics’ Glen ‘Big Baby’ Davis can delay prison to finish film
-
Lana Del Rey Sparks Romance Rumors With Alligator Guide Jeremy Dufrene
-
In bizarro world, Tennessee plays better defense, and Georgia's Kirby Smart comes unglued
-
Tell Me Lies Costars Grace Van Patten and Jackson White Confirm They’re Dating IRL
-
Massachusetts health officials report second case of potentially deadly mosquito-borne virus
-
Lawyer blames psychiatric disorder shared by 3 Australian Christian extremists for fatal siege