(New York) Two reconstructed dinosaur skeletons, a flying reptile and a species associated with the legendary Loch Ness Monster are about to be auctioned by Sotheby’s in New York, it was announced Tuesday.
Posted at 1:13 p.m
The rare specimen of the plesiosaur, a marine reptile named after the famous Scottish sea animal “Nessie”, is estimated at between US$600,000 and US$800,000 (C$800,000 to more than a million Canadian dollars). In 2010 it was sold for CAD 665,000 in Paris, already at Sotheby’s.
At that time it came from the former collection of a private German museum, according to the catalog of the auction house.
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.
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.
It will be auctioned off July 26 in New York as part of a special Natural History auction, Sotheby’s says, along with a skeleton of a Pteranodon, a flying reptile with a 20-foot wingspan estimated at $4 million to $6 million (May 5). .3 to 7.95 million CAD).
Discovered in Kansas, United States, “Horus” is on display with its wings spread, “and almost all of the original fossil bones have not been restored,” says the auctioneer.
However, she states that the skull was reconstructed using a “3D restoration” technique 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 (C$42.1 million) in 2020.