Summers Place Auctions will become the first auction house to sell a large dinosaur skeleton in the UK, in a sale that takes place on November 27 in West Sussex.
![]() Skeletons of the Diplodocus longus are so rare that even the Natural History Museum's example is a plaster cast, which was made from two incomplete skeletons |
The skeleton, a massive 17 metre specimen of a Diplodocus longus, forms part of the Evolution Sale, which also offers other rare fossils. Nicknamed Misty, the Diplodocus is expected to see bids between £400,000 and £600,000 ($639,196-958,794).
Discovered in Wyoming by celebrated dinosaur hunter Raimund Albersdoerfer, the female skeleton is one of just a handful of complete Diplodocuses ever found.
As the auction house points out, the rarity of diplodocus skeletons is such that even the famous example in the Natural History Museum in London is a plaster copy of a composite skeleton in the US.
![]() Lyme Regis in Dorset is world famous for its Jurassic coast, which houses millions of wonderfully preserved fossils |
Also featuring is a 150m year old fossilised Ichthyosaurus, which was discovered on the Jurassic coast around Lyme Regis, Dorset, UK, and will sell with a £50,000-80,000 ($79,899-127,839) estimate.
On November 19, Bonhams will sell the "Montana duelling dinosaurs", which could become the most valuable fossil ever sold at auction. Heritage Auctions is offering a rare "amphibian aspiration" fossil at $250,000 on October 19-20 in Dallas.
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