Small dinosaur fit for the living room to be sold at Paris auction

This photograph taken in Paris on September 7, 2022 shows the fossilised skeleton of a Zephyr, a dinosaur of the iguanodon family that lived over 150 million years ago, during a press meeting ahead of the auction to be held on October 20, 2022 at the Paris auction house Drouot. Credit: AFP Photo

A small dinosaur skeleton will go on sale in Paris next month and is estimated to sell for between €400,000 and €500,000 ($495,000), auction house Giquello said.

Unlike huge dinosaur skeletons sold at earlier auctions, the fossilised iguanodon skeleton stands just 1.3 metres high and is three metres (9.8 ft) long. It was discovered in 2019 in Colorado, US, during road-building on private land.

"It's a dinosaur for a living room," auctioneer Alexandre Giquello said, referring to the size.

The creature is estimated to have lived more than 150 million years ago. Its remains have been restored by a team of Italian paleontologists.

The skeleton will be auctioned on October 20.

In 2020, the same auction house sold a 3.5 metre (11 feet) high and 10 metre long dinosaur skeleton for €3 million.

($1 = €1.0104)

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