1 of 2 Image of a TRex skull auctioned in Switzerland — Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP Image of a TRex skull auctioned in Switzerland — Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP
A mounted skeleton of Tyrannosaurus rex (T. rex), a species that lived about 67 million years ago, was sold at auction in Switzerland this Tuesday (18) for 5.5 million Swiss francs (about R$30.2 million at the current exchange rate) sells prices).
According to the auction house Koller, which conducted the sale, the price was estimated at between 5 and 8 million Swiss francs.
The highest bid was 4.8 million francs, the final price including costs 5.5 million francs, said company spokesman Karl Green.
Trex Trinity
Named Trinity, the 3.9metertall and 11.6meterlong skeleton is an agglomeration of the bones of three different T. rex found between 2008 and 2013 in Montana and Wyoming in the northwestern United States, according to the sales catalogue.
- 2,000 year old cemetery discovered during construction work on the Paris railway line
Elsewhere in those states, two other important tyrannosaurus skeletons were discovered and auctioned off.
2 of 2 Tyrannosaurus skeleton auctioned in Switzerland — Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP Tyrannosaurus skeleton auctioned in Switzerland — Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP
In 2020, Stan sold for $31.8 million (165.2 million reals at the time), beating the previous record set by Sue, who sold for $8.4 million (9.2 million reals at the time) in 1997 became.
Trinity was owned by an American and was acquired by a European collector of dinosaurs and modern art, auctioneer Cyril Koller said.
It is the “third T. rex auctioned” worldwide and the first in Europe, he said.
The public was able to observe the skeleton in Zurich for two weeks. “More than 30,000 visitors admired Trinity, including many children,” said Koller.
Just over half of Trinity’s bone material comes from three Tyrannosaurus specimens, which is higher than the 50% rate experts need for the skeleton to be considered of good quality.
The auction house Koller has made transparent where the bones come from, hence the name Trinity.
For paleontologist Thomas Holtz, Trinity is “not really a specimen, but an artistic installation.” For him “it is deceptive” and it is “not relevant to combine real bones from different individuals into a single skeleton”.
Last year, Hong Kong auction house Christie’s pulled the sale of another T. rex skeleton over doubts about the authenticity of parts of the fossil.