Christie's withdraws dubious T-rex skeleton from auction

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This is some next-level skulduggery.

Christie’s auction house has withdrawn a nearly complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton after paleontologist Pete Larson questioned the origins of the specimen’s bones, according to the New York Times.

Larson accused Christies of using bones from another T. rex skeleton the auction house had on the block in 2020.

He claimed the skeleton going up for sale, dubbed “Shen,” has been built with many replica parts from the T. rex known as “Stan.”

And Larson would know.

He is president of the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research in South Dakota and was one of the scientists who originally excavated “Stan” in 1992. 

He has studied the “Stan” skeleton ever since. Although Larson’s organization sold “Stan” through Christies in 2020 (for $31.8 million), it still holds intellectual property rights to the T. rex bones and sells full polyurethane casts of “Stan” for $120,000.

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CNN reported that it’s not unusual to recreate a dinosaur skeleton using a mix of original bone and some bone casts taken from other specimens.

However, the issue with “Shen” is that Larson believes the skeleton is probably 95% created from casts of “Stan.” He added that as a result, it’s both misleading to a potential buyer and legally risky, as it creates intellectual property conflict with The Black Hills Institute.

Christie’s was careful to amend its condition report after being alerted to the potential problem, but has now withdrawn the dinosaur skeleton from the auction.

“Shen” was billed as the main attraction in Christie’s upcoming Hong Kong sales and was set to become the first T. rex skeleton auctioned in Asia.

Auction house estimates put the potential sale price in the area of $15 million-$25 million.

The T. rex will now be placed with a museum for further study.