A view of the skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex named Trinity, during a preview by auction house Koehler at Zurich’s Tonhalle Concert Hall, on Wednesday, March 29, 2023 in Zurich, Switzerland. A giant T. Rex skeleton excavated from three locations in the United States is going up for auction in Zurich on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, the first sale of its kind in Europe. Credit: Michael Buholzer/Keystone via AP, File
Interested investors may have to dig deep into their pockets to claim a giant Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton for auction on Tuesday — the first of its kind in Europe — dug up from three locations in the United States and could make the final decoration of a businessman’s home or other eye-catching display.
The 293 T. rex bones, assembled and mounted in a growling position measuring 11.6 meters (38 feet) long and 3.9 meters (12.8 feet) high, are expected to fetch between 5 and 8 million Swiss. Francs ($5.6-$8.9 million) when it goes under the hammer at Zurich auction house.
Promoters say the T. rex compound — nicknamed “Trinity” and inspired by three sites in the Hell Creek and Lance Creek formations in Montana and Wyoming — was built from specimens recovered between 2008 and 2013.
More than half of the recovered fossil is “original bone material,” and Kohler Auctions says the skull is particularly rare and remarkably well preserved.
“When dinosaurs died out in the Jurassic or Cretaceous period, they often lost their heads during sedimentation. In fact, most dinosaurs have been found without their skulls,” Nils Knowiczki, scientific consultant is quoted in the auction catalogue. “But here we have the original Tyrannosaurus skull bones that all originated from the same specimen.”
T. rex roamed the Earth between 65 and 67 million years ago, and Hollywood movies — perhaps exemplified by the blockbuster “Jurassic Park” — added to audiences’ fascination with the carnivorous creature.
Koller says the same areas were the source of two other dinosaur skeletons also sold on the block: Sue sold for $8.4 million over a quarter-century ago, and Stan fetched nearly $32 million three years ago.
Koller says Tuesday’s sale, part of a broader artifact auction, marks only the third time a T. rex skeleton has been offered for auction.
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