Barry the dinosaur goes on sale in Paris

PARIS

An unusually well-preserved dinosaur skeleton, a Camptosaurus known as Barry that dates from the late Jurassic period some 150 million years ago, will go under the hammer in Paris next month.

The dinosaur, which was first discovered in the 1990s in the U.S. state of Wyoming, was initially restored in 2000 by paleontologist Barry James, from whom it got its name.

Italian laboratory Zoic, which acquired Barry last year, has done further restoration work on the skeleton, which is 2.10 meters tall and 5 meters long.

"It is an extremely well-preserved specimen, which is quite rare," said Alexandre Giquello, from Paris auction house Hotel Drouot where the sale will take place.

"To take the example of its skull, the skull is complete at 90 percent and the rest of the dinosaur (skeleton) is complete at 80 percent," he said.

Dinosaur specimens on the art market remain rare, with no more than a couple of sales a year worldwide, Giquello said.

The record price for a dinosaur skeleton was $31.8 million for a Tyrannosaurus rex sold in 2020 by Christie’s.