Biggest and ‘most complete’ dinosaur skeleton to go on sale on November 16

PTI,  Nov 2, 2024, NEW DELHI: The stage is set for “Vulcain”, one of the biggest dinosaurs that roamed the earth 150 million years ago, to go under the hammer on November 16 in Paris.

French auction houses Collin du Bocage and Barbarossa have announced that the “most complete” and largest dino skeleton to be auctioned has already crossed its original estimates to USD 11- USD 22 million (approx Rs 92-185 crore) since pre-registration bidding opened in July.

The majestic Apatosaurus skeleton was discovered in Wyoming in the US in 2018 and measures 20.50 metres with approximately 80 per cent of bones belonging to the same dinosaur - making it the most complete dinosaur skeleton to be discovered.

Vulcain is the largest and most complete dinosaur that stands above them all. It is the ancient find of a lifetime, Olivier Collin du Bocage, founder and auctioneer of Collin du Bocage, said in a statement.

 

With the market for dinosaur skeleton continuing to surge since the sale of T-Rex Sue in 1997 for USD 8.4 million and the record sale of Apex Stegosaurus for USD 44.6 million dollars earlier this year, the sale of Vulcain is expected to be one for the record books. 

The purchaser will be given the GPS point and excavation plan together with an osteological map and the rights to officially re-name the dinosaur as well as copyrights of the specimen.

Vulcain, one of the most complete sauropod fossils from the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation, has been studied by renowned paleontology experts, including Christian Foth from the University of Rostock in Germany who recently uncovered the specimen to be a new dinosaur species.

According to their analysis, the Vulcain dinosaur shares features common to both Apatosaurus and Brontosaurus, but matches more closely with Apatosaurus ajax while sharing characteristics with Apatosaurus louisae, another recognised species of Apatosaurus. 

Thus, this unique mix of characteristics suggests it could represent an intermediate species between Apatosaurus ajax and Apatosaurus louisae.