Exhibition: Auctioned T. rex skeleton to go to Antwerp

Exhibition
Auctioned T. rex skeleton to go to Antwerp

A dinosaur skeleton auctioned in Zurich this week is going to Antwerp in Belgium. The auction house Koller revealed the secret of the initially anonymous buyer on Friday. It is the non-profit art foundation Phoebus, which wants to publicly display the skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex (T. rex). Because her cultural center will only be completed in a few years, she is checking whether the skeleton will be loaned to a museum in the meantime, as foundation manager Katharina Van Cauteren said. Scientists should also have access.

A private owner had the rare T. rex skeleton “Trinity” auctioned on Tuesday. The foundation paid CHF 5.5 million (EUR 5.6 million) for this. This includes the commission for the auction house. The skeleton is 1.6 by 3.9 meters and consists of bones from three different animals that were excavated in the US states of Montana and Wyoming between 2008 and 2013. 50 percent of the bones are original material. The T. rex lived in what is now the United States more than 65 million years ago.

Trinity is said to be only the third T. rex skeleton ever to be auctioned. It was exhibited in Zurich in the past few weeks. 35,000 visitors had seen it in three weeks. When it comes to auctioning off fossils, there is always a fear among scientists that important material is being hidden behind closed doors. The Phoebus Foundation could now allay these worries with its announcement. “This is the best possible result that we could have hoped for,” said the head of the auction house, Cyril Koller.

In 2021, the foundation bought the Boerentoren skyscraper in Antwerp, which is almost 100 meters high. It dates from the 1930s. It is to be opened as a cultural center in a few years after renovation. “We are incredibly proud that this spectacular specimen will be part of an important project by the Phoebus Foundation,” said Van Cauteren.

dpa