Hôtel Drouot > Auction highlights > BINOCHE ET GIQUELLO - The T-Rex's grandfather at auction - 13 October 2020

BINOCHE ET GIQUELLO - The T-Rex's grandfather at auction - 13 October 2020

Tuesday 13 October 2020

Expert: Iacopo Briano

On the upcoming October 13, Binoche et Giquello Auction House will offer an exceptional sale of natural history, the fourth edition of Naturalia. As every year, this sale, which resembles a cabinet of curiosities, will be crowned by a spectacular skeleton of a dinosaur. A 10-meter (32 feet) long allosaur, one of the largest specimens of this species known to date, will be presented among meteorites, fossils, butterflies, and dinosaur tusk and eggs. The animal, never seen before on the market, is estimated to reach between €1,000,000 and €1,200,000 ($1,185,000-1,425,000).

Older than 150 million years old, from the upper Jurassic period (150,8 to 145,5 MA) the allosaur skeleton presented in this sale was discovered in 2016 in Wyoming, USA. Its spectacular size - H: 3.50m ; W: 10 m ; L: 2.25m (H: 11,4ft ; W: 32ft ; L: 7,4ft) - makes it the longest known specimen of this species to date. Adult allosaurs usually average 8.5 meters (28 feet) long. Only one other allosaur skeleton can be compared to this one: the one kept at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, which is 9.7 meters (32 feet) long.

Our bipedal dinosaur, carnivorous and ferocious, had a taste for combat. Traces of wounds were discovered on several ribs during the restoration of the bones. Further scientific examination, using X-rays, led to the hypothesis of a titanic battle scene between our allosaur and a rival.

Undeniably, allosaurs are the highlight of this sale! A series of sharp teeth, discovered at their rightful place, in the jawbone of another specimen of the same period as the full skeleton mentionned above, will then be offered at auction. Also discovered in Wyoming, this fragment of skeleton, distinctive of the animal, is estimated between €60,000 and €70,000 ($71,000-83,000).	aa
Exceptionally well preserved, a fossil plate of 3.30m high by 1.60m large (11ft x 5,2ft), containing four complete sea lilies of a surprisingly large size, captures the beauty of nature. Sea lilies, exotic looking animals similar to starfishes or sea urchins, live in the oceans, deploying their feathery arms to capture plankton. Dramatic plaque of crinoids - Seirocrinus subangularis Age: Lower Jurassic, Pliensbachian - Toarcian (approx. 195 MA) Place of discovery: Posidonia Shale Formation, Holzmaden, Germany H: 330 cm ; L: 160 cm (H: 11ft ; L: 5,2ft) Estimate: €70,000-90,000 ($83,000-107-000)
The Green River Formation, located in Wyoming, USA, is the source of some of the world’s most beautiful fossil fishes. However, it is rare to discover a fossil showing a big Mioplosus fish swallowing a smaller Diplomystus fish. This one is a snapshot of life and death seized over 50 million years ago and fossilized forever. To bite more than you can chew! Mioplosus labracoides, Diplomystus dentatus Age: Eocene (from 53 to 48 MA) Place of discovery: Green River formation, Wyoming, USA H: 56,5 cm ; L: 71,5 cm (H: 1,8ft ; L: 2,3ft) Estimate: €5,500-7,500 ($6,500-8,900)
Mammoths’ tusks are a key piece of cabinets of curiosity, because of the rarity and the preciosity of the material. The tusk offered here, discovered in the permafrost of Siberia, has an exceptional size of 1.97 m long and 1.6 m large (L: 6,4ft ; l: 5,2ft). Perfectly fossilized, the ivory has retained its original honey color with green hues due to its excellent quality of fossilization. Important Mammoth tusk Mammuthus primigenius Age: Pleistocene (200 000 to 5 000 years) Place of discovery : Siberia Weight : 21,5 kg L: 197 cm ; l: 106 cm ; H: 86 cm (L: 6,4ft ; l: 3,4ft ; H: 2,8ft) Estimate : €15,000-20,000 ($17,800-23,750)

Public Auction - Drouot - Saleroom 5/6
Tuesday 13 October - 3pm

Public exhibition - Drouot - Saleroom 5/6
Saturday 10 October - 11am / 6pm
Monday 12 October - 11am / 6pm
Tuesday 13 October - 11am / 12pm