Rare Dinosaur Skeleton Up For Auction

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Mar 21st 2009 at 4:02PM

Today will see the sale of an unusual artifact, a 150-million-year-old complete skeleton of a dinosaur. The I.M. Chait Gallery in Manhattan is auctioning off a nine-foot-long dryosaurus being sold by Utah-based Western Paleontological Laboratories as part of a natural history auction that includes other skeletons, fossils and minerals. The skeleton is one of only two of its kind in the world. Most skeletons like this end up in museums but some are bought by private individuals. The skeleton could bring up to $500,000.

UPDATE: Luxist tipster Nick led me to a CNN report that the skeleton did not sell but that two museums are said to be looking into buying it.

Tags: auction, dinosaur, new york, NewYork, skeleton