http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/35932/1-million-allosaurus-to-lead-attack-at-sothebys-france-dinosaur-auction/PARIS— Call it a really Old Masters sale. Tomorrow, Sotheby’s France will open its salesroom for an auction not of delicate jewels or sensitively-rendered art but of fierce bones and fossils left behind by dinosaurs, including a showstopping complete skeleton of an Allosaurus that is between 135 and 153 million years old and over 30 feet long. The 86-lot sale, which carries an overall estimate of €3.6-4.6 million (or $4.9-6.3 million), will also feature several once-warmblooded critters and an assortment of other prehistoric fare.
It is extremely rare for an entire dinosaur skeleton to appear on the market, and this will be the first-ever auction appearance of an Allosaurus, carefully arranged for Sotheby's in a lifelike running pose, its huge mouth gaping as if ready to attack. From an earlier era than Tyrannosaurus Rex, the predatory creature was “more agile, and a bit smaller, by about 10 feet†and possessed of "long arms, unlike T. Rex, with three large claws,†Sotheby's France paleontology specialist Eric Mickeler told ARTINFO. The beast is estimated to sell for €800,000–1 million ($1.09-1.36 million), or just a bit more than the untitled Julie Mehretu painting that sold for $1.02 million in last month's Lehman Brothers Neuberger Berman sale.
[snip, much more at site]
AllosaursRus, man, you have got to get to Paris pronto. You've got the do-re-mi, right?
