[imagesource:twitter/@Reuters]

Public buyers will have the opportunity to own a rare dinosaur, as a Paris auction house announces the inclusion of a 150 million-year-old skeleton known as ‘Barry’ to their auction roster. Now that’s a ‘vintage’ buy if we’ve ever seen one.

This remarkably preserved dinosaur, known as camptosaurus, was discovered in the 1990s in Wyoming, USA, and was named ‘Barry’ after the palaeontologist Barry James who unearthed it.

The camptosaurus is said to originate from the late Jurassic period, standing at an impressive height of 2.1 metres and a formidable 5 metres in length. That being said, what makes Barry extra special is not this grand stature, but the extraordinary level of preservation of his bones.

Alexandre Giquello, a representative of the Hotel Drouot auction house who will be putting the dino ‘under the hammer’, explained that it’s a rare gift to have such a well-preserved dinosaur skeleton, particularly when it comes to the skull.

“The skull is complete at 90%, and the rest of the dinosaur is complete at 80%.”

Seeing the dramatic footage of the large prehistoric beastie, you don’t have to be a palaeontologist to agree that Barry is an impressive specimen.

The upcoming auction, scheduled for October 20 at Hotel Drouot, is expected to draw significant interest from wealthy collectors, with an estimated price tag of up to €1.2 million (R22 million).

Sales of dinosaur fossils, especially those of this calibre, are infrequent, with only a limited number occurring globally each year.

In April, a tyrannosaurus rex skeleton made history as the first dinosaur sold via auction in Europe. The event, however exciting for potential buyers, raised valid concerns within the scientific community about the ownership of these invaluable specimens.

Professor Steve Brusatte, a dinosaur expert from the University of Edinburgh, expressed his fears that scientifically significant fossils, like Barry, could “disappear into the vaults of private collectors.”

These are important concerns, but it seems like your average netizen in the comments is more focussed on whether Barry has to be “taken apart again” to be moved. Also a valid query, but arguably not as monumental as the fate of historical artefacts.

[source:bbc]