auction
Rare T. rex skeleton fetches millions at auction
Cyril Koller, managing director of the Koller auction house, gestures next to the head of a T-Rex skeleton during an auction of the Koller auction house. photo
© Michael Buholzer/KEYSTONE/dpa
Perhaps a little too big as a decoration for the house or office: the skeleton of a tyrannosaurus rex measures 11.6 by 3.9 meters. In Zurich, it has now changed hands for 5.6 million euros.
A giant dinosaur skeleton has been auctioned off in Zurich. The successful bidder paid 5.5 million francs (5.6 million euros) for it, as the spokesman for the auction house Koller announced on Tuesday. This includes the commission for the auction house. “The skeleton remains in Europe,” said the spokesman. He did not initially provide any further information about the buyer.
The skeleton is the particularly popular dinosaur species Tyrannosaurus rex (T. rex). It’s considered a blockbuster among dinosaurs because T. rex have long been considered the largest predators to ever walk the earth. The remains of even larger dinosaurs have since been found, but this did not detract from the reputation of the T. rex. It is said to be only the third T. rex skeleton ever to be auctioned.
The anonymous private owner dubbed the skeleton “Trinity” because it was assembled from bones from three different animals discovered between 2008 and 2013 in the US states of Montana and Wyoming. Only around 50 percent of the bones are original material. According to the auction house, this is a good quota. The skeleton is 11.6 by 3.9 meters.
The T. rex lived more than 65 million years ago in what is now the United States.
In 2020, the Arab Emirate of Abu Dhabi bought the T. rex skeleton “Stan” for $31 million. The special thing about it was that it has 70 percent original bones and the entire skeleton comes from the same animal. It is to be exhibited in a museum in Abu Dhabi in a few years.