The Apatosaurus specimen, known as 'Vulcain', is expected to fetch $5 million at auction. If so, experts say that's a bit of a bargain.
The world’s largest dinosaur skeleton ever offered at auction is set to sell for a fittingly large sum later this year, and the global marketing hype is already underway by the Parisian auction house that's offering it for sale.
Vulcain measures roughly 69 feet from tip to tail and has a bone structure that is more than 80 percent complete. The giant herbivore, which is around 150 million years old, was discovered in the paleontology hotspot of Wyoming in 2018. It required three years of excavation to get the bones to the surface. The GPS point, excavation plan, and osteological map will be sold with the skeleton.
The sauropod family to which this dinosaur belonged lived in North America, Europe, and parts of Africa during the late Jurassic period (between 145 million and 160 million years ago). The American Museum of Natural History’s Apatosaurus was the first sauropod ever mounted and went on view in 1905.
Vulcain went on display yesterday at Dampierre castle in Dampierre-en-Yvelines, France, and will remain so before it is auctioned off on 16 November.
Despite some criticism from the scientific community, dinosaur skeletons have become highly collectible and prices for specimens have increased significantly over the past 25 years. For example, Tyrannosaurus rex 'Sue' achieved $8.4 million at Sotheby’s in 1997, while fellow T.rex 'Stan' realized a whopping $31.8 million at Christie’s in 2020.
Doesn't that make $5 million for Vulcain sound like a bargain?
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