T-rex skeleton to go under the hammer in Zurich
The skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaur will be up for sale in Switzerland next month - apparently a first in Europe and only the third such auction worldwide.
The 67-million year-old item, named Trinity, is expected to fetch between CHF5 -8 million ($5.4-8.6 million), according to the Zurich-based auction house, KollerExternal link.
With a length of 11.6 metres and a height of 3.9 metres, Trinity is one of the most spectacular T. rex skeletons in existence, a well-preserved and brilliantly restored fossil, experts say.
The skeleton was assembled from three specimens excavated from 2008 to 2013 in the Hell Creek and Lance Creek formations in the US states of Montana and Wyoming. Therefore, only 50% of the bones are original, which is a good value according to the auction catalogue.
The public sale is scheduled for April 18.
The auction house is trying to refute criticism that the sale of dinosaur skeletons to private individuals could result in the loss of valuable research material.
In the catalogue, the curator of the collection of the planned new Natural History Museum of the University of Zurich is quoted as saying that the trade in dinosaur skeletons is comparable to the art trade.
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.