The animal has seen others but this Saturday, November 16, still promises to be a very big day. From 4 p.m., Vulcain, the largest dinosaur ever offered at auction in the world, will be sold at the Château de Dampierre-en-Yvelines. This specimen of Apatosaurus – formerly “brontosaurus” – measures 20.50 m long, 4 m high and has more than 80% of its native bones, or more than 306 fossilized bones.
It will go under the hammer of the French auction houses Collin du Bocage and Barbarossa. Its estimated price, between 3 and 5 million euros, “should be well exceeded”, according to specialists. A giant herbivore, approximately 150 million years old, Vulcan was discovered in 2018 in Wyoming (United States). It required three years of excavation and was appraised by Professor Éric Mickeler, former consultant for Sotheby's and Christie's, currently curator of the dinosaur museum in Prague (Czech Republic).
Saturday's exceptional auction will take place within the grounds of the Château de Dampierre, owned by entrepreneur Franky Mulliez, who has been hosting the dinosaur since July 13 for the general public to enjoy.
From the auction of the T-Rex “Sue” in 1997 for 8.4 million dollars to that of the stegosaurus “Apex”, estimated between 4 and 6 million dollars and sold… 44.6 million dollars in July last by Sotheby's in New York – this is the world record for a dinosaur skeleton – the success of these prehistoric monsters continues to grow.
“Sales of this type worked very well in the United States, but in France, initially, no one believed in it,” commented Éric Mickeler to Le Parisien last summer. For the estimates, we only had American value scales. Everything had to be transposed to the French market and the first sales were wildly successful. »
The exhibition is still open to the public, until Friday November 15 inclusive. Information on the Dampierre estate website.
