Dinosaur specimens on the art market remain rare, and Barry is expected to break records.
An unusually well-preserved dinosaur skeleton, a Camptosaurus known as Barry, will go under the hammer in Paris next month.
The dinosaur dates from the late Jurassic period some 150 million years ago. Its skeleton will be shown to the public in mid-October before the sale, and is expected to fetch up to €1.2 million.
The dinosaur, which was first discovered in the 1990s in the US state of Wyoming, was initially restored in 2000 by palaeontologist Barry James – hence ‘Barry’.
Italian laboratory Zoic, which acquired Barry last year, has done further restoration work on the skeleton, which is 2.10 metres tall and 5 metres long.
“It is an extremely well-preserved specimen, which is quite rare,” said Alexandre Giquello, from Paris auction house Hotel Drouot where the sale will take place.
“To take the example of its skull, the skull is complete at 90% and the rest of the dinosaur (skeleton) is complete at 80%,” he said.
Giquello added that dinosaur specimens on the art market remain rare, with no more than a couple of sales a year worldwide.