Here's the tragic real-life story of Sue the T-Rex, and the team that found it in the field only to lose it in the courts. The media attention Sue generated pushed the Department and the FBI to look into the Institute's previous collecting and selling habits - and to make an example of them to the rest of their industry. Christie’s sold a nearly complete skeleton of a T-Rex named Stan at its evening sale in November 2020 for 28 million (31.8 million after fees). The members of the Black Hills Institute found themselves under investigation by the Department of Justice, which believed that they had stolen the fossil from federal land. Baby T rex goes on sale on eBay, sparking paleontologists outcry This article is more than 4 years old It could be yours for just 2. However, their plans were upended when the nickname they'd chosen turned into something closer to a sick joke. The Black Hills Institute team that dug Sue out of the rock it had been in for 67 million years were not certified paleontologists, but they understood the importance of what they had found and planned to share it with scientists and the public. The skeleton will be the star of an auction set to feature a number of other rare fossils, as well as a 2.145-kilo rock that is "among the largest Martian meteorites ever found on earth", according to the catalogue.Officially named Specimen FMNH PR 2081 but nicknamed Sue after its discoverer, the T-Rex Hendrickson found that day would turn out to be not only the largest but the most complete T-Rex unearthed so far, with about 250 of 380 known bones. Dinosaur Teeth for Sale Tyrannosaurus Rex Tooth 3 (2 3/8) Tyrannosaurus Rex Tooth 2 (1 5/8) Tyrannosaurus Rex Tooth 1 (1 3/8) Nanotyrannus Dinosaur. This monster reached lengths of more than 40', stood 13' tall at their hips, and reached weights approaching 7 tons. Tyrannosaurus rex or 'tyrant lizard' was the infamous apex predator of the late Cretaceous period. Link also said he would like to see a museum snap up Trinity, adding that several had already voiced interest. Buried Treasure Fossils offers Tyrannosaurus rex teeth for sale. "The Zurich auction is therefore an exceptional opportunity to acquire such a fossil of the highest quality," it said in a statement. Koller noted "the rare skeletons of adult T-Rex specimens which have been unearthed are almost all now in institutional collections." ![]() The skeleton was provided by a "private individual", and had been flown in nine large crates to Switzerland, for reassembly, Link said.Īuction sales of dinosaur skeletons and other fossils have raked in tens of millions of dollars in recent years, but experts have warned the trade could be harmful to science by putting the specimens in private hands and out of the reach of researchers. Trinity's skull meanwhile is "incredibly well-preserved" and comes from a single T-Rex specimen, according to Koller. Just over half of the bone material in the skeleton comes from the three Tyrannosaurus specimens, he said. Link said Koller was intent on being open and transparent about the origins of the bones that make up Trinity. Last year, Christie's withdrew another T-Rex skeleton - also excavated from Montana - days before it went to auction in Hong Kong, after doubts were reportedly raised about parts of the skeleton. T-Rex was the apex during the late Cretaceous with massive teeth capable of crushing its prey. ![]() The two sites are known for the discoveries of two other significant T-Rex skeletons that have gone to auction: Sue went under the hammer in 1997 for $8.4 million, and Stan, which took the world-record hammer price of $31.8 million at Christie's, in 2020. They were excavated between 20 from the Hell Creek and Lance Creek formations in Montana and Wyoming in the United States, the auction catalogue said. The Trinity skeleton is made up of bone material from three T-Rex specimens. ![]() Koller pointed to a 2021 study in the scientific journal Nature indicating that only 32 skeletons of adult T-Rex's - one of the largest terrestrial predators ever to walk the Earth - had been found worldwide. The sale would mark "the first time in Europe and only the third time worldwide (that) a skeleton of an entire T-Rex dinosaur of exceptional quality will be offered at auction". Trinity is "one of the most spectacular T-Rex skeletons in existence, a well-preserved and brilliantly restored fossil," the auction house said. Towering 3.9 metres (12.8 feet) in the air, Trinity has been valued at between six to eight million Swiss francs ($6.5-8.7 million), according to the auction catalogue.īut Christian Link, in charge of natural history memorabilia at Koller, told AFP he believed that was a "very low estimate". ![]() The skeleton dubbed Trinity will go under the hammer in Zurich on April 18, the Koller auction house said. The sale of one of the world’s most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons smashed auction estimates, when it sold for 31.8 million at a Christie’s auction on Tuesday night.
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