A nearly complete dinosaur skeleton named Barry will be auctioned in Paris next month, expected to fetch up to €1.2 million (NZ$ 2.1million). Barry, a camptosaurus dinosaur from around 150 million years ago during the late Jurassic period, was discovered in the 1990s by paleontologist Barry James.
The skeleton has undergone substantial restoration work ahead of the sale. Alexandre Giquello from Drouot, the auction house managing the sale, noted that Barry is an exceptionally well-preserved specimen, a rarity in the field. The skull is 90% complete, and the rest of the dinosaur is 80% complete. Barry stands at 2.1 meters (6.9 feet) tall and stretches 5 meters (16.4 feet) long, about the length of two to five guitars.
While dinosaur fossil sales are infrequent, with only a few occurring worldwide each year, concerns have been raised about valuable scientific specimens ending up in private collections. This worry arose following the recent auction sale of a Tyrannosaurus rex in Europe, marking the first such sale on the continent.
