Dinosaur skeletons have become hot property

Real Estate

Team MONEYME|01 December 2022| 2-minute read

Could dinosaurs be the latest trend in interior design?

Last month, a bona fide dinosaur skeleton went to auction in Paris—and fetched around $800,000.

Fit for a living room

Unlike previous dinosaurs to have gone under the hammer, this one is (relatively) pint-sized. In fact, at three metres in length and 1.3 metres in height, it’s small enough to fit into a living room.

The skeleton belonged to an Iguanodon, which, unlike many of its more terrifying counterparts, was a vegetarian. Its bones were discovered accidentally during a quarrying project on private land in Colorado in the United States in 2019—before being reassembled in Italy by Zoic.

Somewhere along the way, it gained the nickname ‘Zephyr’.

A growing trend

Zephyr, though unusually small, is not the only dinosaur to have faced the hammer lately.

In October 2021, at another auction in Paris, an anonymous buyer fell ‘in love’ with a 66-million-year-old Triceratops called Big John and paid $10.2 million—four times the amount anticipated.

Also last year, but in New York, a 67 million-year-old Tyrannosaurus Rex broke records when it went for $31.8 million—the most ever paid for a dinosaur skeleton.

And, in July this year, Sotheby’s sold its second dinosaur skeleton in history for around $9.6 million. It was a 77 million year old Gorgosaurus—a smaller yet fiercer relative of the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Can’t afford a skeleton?

If a skeleton is out of scope, then there’s the option of buying a bone, tooth or egg—or even a skull.

These usually begin at a few thousand dollars and can be bought directly from fossil collectors.

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Key takeaways

• A 150 million-year-old Iguanodon skeleton, to be auctioned in Paris this month, is expected to fetch around $800,000.
• At three metres in length and 1.8 metres in height, it’s smaller than most dinosaur skeletons.
• The purchase of dinosaur skeletons by private collectors is a growing trend. So far, the record price is $31.8 million—paid for a Tyrannosaurus Rex called Big John in New York in 2021. – For those who can’t afford a skeleton, another option might be buying a bone, tooth, egg or skull from a fossil collector.
• For those who can’t afford a skeleton, another option might be buying a bone, tooth, egg or skull from a fossil collector.