[EN IMAGES] The creature behind the Loch Ness Monster will be auctioned

Two reconstructed dinosaur skeletons, a flying reptile and a species associated with the legendary Loch Ness Monster will soon be auctioned by Sotheby’s in New York, it was announced Tuesday.

The rare specimen of the plesiosaur, a marine reptile named after the famous Scottish sea creature Nessie, is estimated at between US$600,000 and US$800,000. It was already sold at Sotheby’s in Paris in 2010 for 456,000 euros.

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At that time it came from the former collection of a private German museum, according to the catalog of the auction house.

Photo: AFP

The skeleton was discovered in 1990 at Blockley Quarry in Gloucestershire and is “around 75% complete,” an “extraordinary” level, according to Cassandra Hotton, director of science and popular culture at Sotheby’s. It dates from the Lower Jurassic period around 190 million years ago.

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With its elongated neck, the plesiosaur is associated in contemporary culture with the Loch Ness Monster, the legendary creature of Scottish folklore, although this theory has been disproved by scientists.

Photo: AFP

According to Sotheby’s, it will be auctioned in New York on July 26 as part of a special “Natural History” auction, along with a skeleton of a Pteranodon, a flying reptile with a wingspan of 6 meters, estimated at between 4 and 6 million dollars.

Photo: AFP

Discovered in Kansas, in the United States, “Horus” is presented with outstretched wings, “and almost all of the original fossil bones have not been restored,” says the auctioneer.

Photo: AFP

However, she states that the skull was reconstructed using a technique of “3D restoration” and that “the bones that were not found at the excavation site were replaced with elements 3D printed in high resolution”.

Fossils of prehistoric animals are now among the regular stars of auctions.

The record value belongs to a Tyrannosaurus Rex sold for $31.8 million in 2020.