Dinosaur skeletons up for auction in New York

Two dinosaur skeletons are set to be auctioned in New York, one belonging to a Tyrannosaurus and the other to a rare Plesiosaurus species, announced Sotheby's auction house on Tuesday.

"Nessie," named after Scotland's infamous Loch Ness Monster, is a rare Plesiosaurus and is expected to fetch a price between $600,000 and $800,000. It was previously sold for €456,000 at an auction in Paris in 2010 organized by Sotheby's.

At the time, it was part of an old collection belonging to a private German museum, according to Sotheby's.

Cassandra Hooton, head of the Science and Popular Culture department at Sotheby's, explained that the skeleton, discovered in 1990 in Gloucestershire, was "approximately 75% complete," which is an "exceptional" percentage. It dates back to the Lower Jurassic period, about 190 million years ago.

Plesiosaurs have been linked in contemporary culture to the Loch Ness Monster, a mythical creature in Scottish folklore.

"Nessie" will be part of an auction titled "Natural History," planned to be held in New York on July 26, according to Sotheby's. Additionally, a Pteranodon skeleton, a type of pterosaur with a wingspan of six meters, will be offered at an estimated price between four and six million dollars.

"Horus," found in Kansas, United States, is displayed with its wings spread, while "almost all of its original fossil bones have not been restored," according to the auction house. Sotheby's pointed out that the skull was rebuilt using "3D restoration" technology, indicating that "bones that were not found at the excavation site were replaced with high-resolution 3D printed elements."

Fossils from prehistoric animals are regularly auctioned.

The record in this field belongs to the Tyrannosaurus rex, which sold for $31.8 million in 2020.

 

AFP