A Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton with nearly 300 bones was sold for $5.3 million at an auction in Switzerland.
The composite T. rex — composite meaning a complete skeleton assembled from parts taken from different specimens — was first discovered in Montana and Wyoming at three separate sites by the Lance Creek and Hell Creek formations. The skeleton is 38 feet long and 12.8 feet high.
The skeleton was sold below the expected price of $5.5 million to $8.9 million, according to NBC 5.
“It could be that it was a composite — that could be why the purists didn’t go for it,” Karl Green, marketing director for Zurich-based auction house Koller Auktionen AG, which sold the T. rex skeleton, said to NBC 5. “It’s a fair price for the dino. I hope it’s going to be shown somewhere in public.”
This was the first time a T. rex skeleton went up for auction in Europe, according to Koller.
The skull of the T. rex was displayed next to the auctioneer’s podium during the entire event.
The skeleton composite was lovingly called “Trinity,” possibly because the bones were taken from three different dig sites.
“When dinosaurs died in the Jurassic or Cretaceous periods, they often lost their heads during deposition (of the remains into rocks). In fact, most dinosaurs are found without their skulls,” said Nils Knoetschke, scientist advisor, according to NBC 5. “But here we have truly original Tyrannosaurus skull bones that all originate from the same specimen.”
Deposition refers to “the laying down of sediment carried by wind, flowing water, the sea or ice,” according to the British Geological Survey.
According to the auction house, the skull was particularly well preserved and considered a rare specimen.
Half of the skeleton consisted of “original bone material,” Koller claimed, according to NBC 5. The other half of the skeleton was made up of pieces taken from other specimens found at the three dig sites.
The buyer was a European collector, according to Green, and paid the equivalent of $6.1 million, including fees and a so-called “buyer’s premium.”
T. rexes were present on the earth between 66 and 90 million years ago, according to the American Museum of Natural History.
