Dinosaur skeleton auctioned for CHF225,000

The Piguet auction house in Geneva has sold a 70-million-year-old dinosaur called Maximus as part of a rare paleontology collection.  

Maximus, who is three metres long and in excellent condition, sold for CHF225,000 ($227,000) to a Swiss collector of beautiful objects, according to auction house director Bernard Piguet. He had been valued at between CHF200,000 and CHF300,000.  

The dinosaur skeleton can be rapidly dismantled and put back together, like a construction kit. All the pieces are numbered, and when dismantled they can fit into a suitcase.  

Curious onlookers showed up for the sale on Tuesday.  

The auction was held in a hall and by telephone, with interest also from some potential buyers abroad. While Maximus was the star, the collection also included several other fossils which sold for more modest sums. For example, the tooth of a Tyrannosaurus Rex sold for CHF3,700, and a fossilised dinosaur egg went for CHF2,700.  

The person selling all these prehistoric items is a paleontology fan who decided to sell some of his collection to continue funding his passion, according to Piguet.