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NY Post
New York Post
19 Apr 2023


NextImg:Rare T-rex skeleton named ‘Trinity’ sells for $6.1M at auction

The near-complete composite of a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton dubbed “Trinity” sold for $6.1 million at an auction in Zurich, Switzerland.

The T-rex skeleton, standing at 12.8 feet high and 38.1 feet long, is composed of 293 bones from three different dinosaurs, hence its name.

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The Koller auction house, where Trinity was sold on Tuesday, noted that it was the first time such a skeleton went up for auction in Europe, with the bones going to an unnamed private collector.

Although the buyer paid $5.3 million for the skeleton, the added premium and fees brought the total sales price up to more than $6 million, within the range the auction house was aiming for.

“It’s a fair price for the dino,” Karl Green, the auction house’s marketing director. “I hope it’s going to be shown somewhere in public.”

Green noted that because Trinity was a composite, “purists” likely didn’t bid on the skeleton.

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“Trinity” sold to an unnamed private collector for $5.3 million plus fees.
AFP via Getty Images

The skeleton was one of the main focuses of the auction, which featured some 70 items, and during the bidding process, Trinity’s skull was set up next to the auctioneer’s podium.

The skull was a particular point of interest for buyers as it was remarkably well-preserved, Koller said.

Nils Knoetschke, a scientific adviser who was quoted in the auction catalog, wrote that most dinosaurs are typically found without their skulls.

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Koller auction house director Cyril Koller gestures with an auctioneers gavel next to the skull of 'Trinity.'

This was the first time such a skeleton went up for auction in Europe.
AFP via Getty Images

Bidders sit next to a picture of 'Trinity.'

The T-rex skeleton is composed of 293 bones from three different dinosaurs.
AFP via Getty Images

Trinity was formed from three different fossil sites in the US, and it was put up for sale by an anonymous American.

At least half of the skeleton came from one T-rex.

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Two of the sites where Trinity’s bones were discovered were also used to form other T-rex skeletons that were previously auctioned off, Koller noted.

An entire T. rex skeleton.

Because Trinity is a composite, “purists” likely didn’t bid on the skeleton.
Koller Auctions/Oliver Nanzig/Me / MEGA

In 2020, New York’s Christie’s auction house sold another near-complete T-rex named “Stan” for $32 million, setting a new record for a dinosaur sold.

The T-rex, whose name means the tyrant lizard king, roamed the Earth between 65 and 67 million years ago, during the Cretaceous Period, which ended with the extinction of the dinosaurs.

Researchers believe that about 20,000 adult T-rex’s lived in North America before they were wiped out.