T-Rex skeleton sold in Switzerland for over 4 million francs

A T-Rex skeleton up for auction in Switzerland has sold for 4,8 million Swiss francs. Despite the high price tag, the monster of the Jurassic's new owner has apparently got themselves a good deal.

Trinity T-Rex skeleton sold in Zurich

At an auction in Zurich on April 18, “Trinity”, a full T-Rex skeleton comprised of three separate bodies discovered across the United States, sold for 4,8 million Swiss francs - around 20.000 francs per bone. It is the first dinosaur skeleton to ever face auction in Europe, and only the third to be auctioned in the world.

Trinity had been on display at the Tonhalle after landing at Zurich Airport in March, with over 30.000 people turning up to see the monster in the flesh - or bone, in this case. The dinosaur was the final lot in the “Out of this World” auction hosted by Auction House Koller, which saw a Pterosaur fossil (100.000 francs), the largest Eurhinosaurus head ever found (110.000) and a signed astronaut helmet from Apollo 13's Jim Lovell (4.000) all sold to would-be buyers.

Auction house had hoped for a higher price

With a starting bid of 4 million Swiss francs, it only took eight minutes before Trinity was sold to a mysterious buyer on the phone. The private collector, who is only known to be European by the media, is now the proud owner of the 239-bone, four-metre high and 12-metre-long monster. "It's a fair price for the dinosaur. I hope it gets shown in public somewhere," noted the marketing director for Koller, Karl Green.

However, according to World Radio Switzerland, the private buyer is getting himself a bargain: the original auction estimate predicted that Trinity would sell for between 5 and 8 million francs on the night.