150 million years old, “Vulcan”, a 20 meter long apatosaurus, will be sold at auction on November 16 at the Château de Dampierre-en-Yvelines. the Collin du Bocage and Barbarossa houses hope to break records.
Never before has such a gigantic dinosaur been put up for auction. “Vulcan”, a 150 million year old skeleton, will find a buyer on November 16 at the Château de Dampierre-en-Yvelines in a sale orchestrated by the houses Collin du Bocage and Barbarossa. This specimen of Apatosaurus, formerly “brontosaurus”, measures 20.50 m long, 4 m high and has more than 80% of its native bones, i.e. more than 306 fossilized bones. Its estimated price, between 3 and 5 million euros, « should be far exceeded »according to specialists.
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“A kind of giant mikado”
It took three years of excavation to recover his entire skeleton. Exhumed in 2018 in Wyoming, United States, Vulcan represents a paleontological feat due to its exceptional state of conservation and its unique 80% completeness. The 20% of missing bones were entirely or partially replaced by resin using a new restoration technique. Pascal Godefroit, paleontologist at the Brussels Institute of Natural Sciences, still marvels at his discovery: « Already on the ground we could see that he was impressive, a sort of giant mikado. We were very admiring because not only is the apatosaurus much rarer than the diplodocus, but we could also see that it was an exceptional specimen. The in-depth scientific study of this skeleton will be fascinating and will make it possible to describe a new species. »
A stegosaurus sold for 42 million euros
The Vulcain exhibition, which has attracted nearly 40,000 visitors since its presentation began this summer, closed its doors on November 3 to prepare for its sale. And before the auction, public exhibitions will take place from Tuesday November 12 to Saturday November 16. The Collin du Bocage auction house recalled that: « from the auction of the T-Rex Sue in 1997 for 8.4 million dollars (8 million euros), to the sale of a skeleton of the Apex stegosaurus, estimated between 4 and 6 million dollars (3 .7 and 5.6 million euros) and sold for $44.6 million (42 million euros) on July 17, 2024 at Sotheby’s in New York, world record for the sale of a dinosaur skeleton, the success of these prehistoric monsters has only grown. The specimen exhibited at the Domaine de Dampierre and which will be sold on November 16 is the largest ever sold at auction ». In this favorable context for paleontological auctions, it would not be surprising if Vulcain approached or even exceeded these records. Response, November 16.
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