11.6 by 3.9 meters! – Skeleton of Tyrannosaurus rex comes under hammer

The skeleton must fetch five to eight million francs (5.06 to 8.10 million euros) at the auction. T. rex are the best-selling dinosaurs, says paleontologist Katja Waskow of the Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig (ZFMK) in Bonn. “Dinosaurs have an enigmatic, mystical quality to them, which is why many people’s hearts open when they hear the subject.” However, she finds it problematic to auction such skeletons to the highest bidder. “I am critical of the skeleton falling into the wrong hands, and that cannot be ruled out at an auction,” she says. “But: not every private person who buys a dinosaur skeleton is on the bad side.”

Most private pieces eventually end up in a museum
Dennis Hansen, head of collections at the Zoological Museum Zurich, has no problem with the private trade in dinosaur skeletons. Skeletons threatened to decompose if not recovered. If private collectors paid for it, that’s fine. Sooner or later such skeletons ended up in museums. “If we have to wait two to three generations for a private collector or his grandson to bequeath this to a museum, that’s fine,” he told the auction house. “The dinosaurs are 65.66 million years old. What difference does a few human generations make?”

40 T. rex skeletons found so far
According to one estimate, about 2.5 billion T. rex lived on Earth. However, only 30 to 40 more or less intact skeletons have been found in the US so far. “The T. rex is a classic North American dinosaur,” says Waskow. “Central Europe was then largely under the sea, an island landscape. You are more likely to find fossils of marine animals here.” The first T. rex skeleton was discovered in Wyoming in 1900.

Famous T. rex “Sue” is 13 meters long
The specimen being auctioned in Zurich is called “TRX-293 Trinity” because it is composed of three skeletons. They were excavated in Montana and Wyoming between 2008 and 2013. Trinity is privately owned. Only about 50 percent of the bones are original material. That is a good rate, says the auction house. One of the most famous T. rex skeletons is “Sue,” named after Sue Hendrickson, who discovered the bones in South Dakota in 1990. The 13-meter-long skeleton has 90 percent original bones. What is found on American soil belongs to the tenant or landowner. The skeleton was auctioned. The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago won the contract in 1997 for $8.4 million.

Dino bone prices have been skyrocketing for years. For example, “Stan,” discovered by Stan Sacrison in South Dakota in 1992, is a skeleton with 70 percent original bone. The private Black Hills Institute prepared it and exhibited it worldwide. In 2020, the Arab Emirate of Abu Dhabi purchased “Stan” for $31 million. It will be exhibited in Abu Dhabi from the end of 2025.

Doing business with skeletons also attracts scammers
Charlatans are also riding the wave of popularity: In November 2022, Hong Kong auction house Christie’s withdrew a skeleton named “Shen” when doubts arose about the contents of real bones. The president of the Black Hills Institute found a striking resemblance to his “Stan” in many places, authorized replicas of which have been circulating for years.

A skeleton of T. rex is also on display at the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin. “Tristan Otto” is twelve feet tall, named after the owners’ sons, who are wealthy entrepreneurs. It has about 50 percent original bone material and was excavated in Montana in 2010. The entrepreneurs made it available to the museum on loan.