Auction gem: 67 million year old dinosaur

A nice eye-catcher or a bit sinister; Opinions about this auction gem are divided. Tomorrow a huge skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex will go under the hammer at a Swiss auction house. If you still have an empty corner left in the interior... 

The 67-million-year-old dinosaur, named Trinity, will be offered in a special sale by Koller auction house in Zurich on April 18. The T-rex is one of the best-known dinosaur species. The animal – over 4 meters high and over 11.5 meters long – lived in open forest landscapes in North America and Asia. So far, only 32 have been recovered worldwide. 

Trinity's skeleton consists of 293 different bones, taken from a total of three different T-Rex specimens excavated in Montana and Wyoming between 2008 and 2023. The rest is supplemented with artificially produced bones. 

Rare

Adding to Trinity's rarity is its well-preserved skull. Most dinosaurs that died in the Jurassic or Cretaceous periods were found without skulls. In addition, the skull bones can easily separate from each other. 

Trinity is the first T-Rex skeleton to be offered at auction in Europe. In 2016, Naturalis in Leiden was the first museum in Europe to have a T-Rex skeleton. 

According to a conservative estimate, the skeleton should fetch 6 to 8 million euros.