Vulcan, a 5 meter high dinosaur, sold for 4.7 million euros

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20.5 meters long, 5 meters high. Due to its impressive dimensions, its almost completeness, since 80 to 85% of its skeleton (more than 306 fossilized bones) were found, and its excellent level of conservation, the auction of Vulcan, a 150 million year old dinosaur, promised to reach new heights.

It is therefore no surprise that the event, organized by the French houses Collin du Bocage and Barbarossa, Saturday November 16, 2024 at the Dampierre-en-Yvelines estate, attracted so many people. Many journalists were also present in this crowded room.

The largest specimen ever sold at auction

The auctions, the starting price of which was set at 1.2 million eurosstarted around 4:15 p.m. Very quickly, they reached 3.9 million. Ultimately, the dinosaur was sold in just a few minutes for 4.7 million.

L’investor was represented at this sale. It would be a Frenchman aged around forty. He should subsequently sell it to one of the three European establishments which have already expressed their interest in the colossus. We are already talking about the Paléospace in Villers-sur-Mer and the Royal Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels.

Its selling price remains far from records

This is the largest specimen of apatosaurus never sold at auction. The value of this giant herbivore, discovered in the United States in 2018, was estimated between 3 and 5 million euros.

It was therefore sold at its price, nothing more, and far from the records affected by some of its congeners.

The Apex Stegosaurus for example, estimated at between 4 and 6 million dollars, was purchased for 44.6 million dollars, the July 17, 2024 at Sotheby's in New York.

In 2020, the Abu Dhabi museum had paid 31.8 million euros to acquire Stan, a tyrannosaurus eleven meters high and listed at 6 million euros.

“I'm not disappointed for the price. It’s a sale, it’s a good thing because it will remain visible to the public,” commented the auctioneer from 78actu.

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