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A specimen that is one of a kind, to say the least, is on display today in Paris: a dinosaur skeleton larger than life. It measures 10 meters, and lived millions of years ago. It was to be auctioned off, but a wealthy businessman broke the bank to buy it.
On the morning of Monday June 5 in Paris, a monster 10 m long, 150 million years old, climbed bone by bone. On the forecourt, the first passers-by widen their eyes. To put a dinosaur of this size back on its feet, it took more than eight months of preparation. The assembly took place in the village of Saint-Etienne-les-Orgues (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence), a few days ago. The dinosaur should have gone to auction, but a Belgian billionaire bought it before anyone else.
Estimated at 3 million euros
He discovers it for the first time. “It’s madness. We don’t buy this like a fridge”recognizes Marc Coucke, who does not wish “not talk about money”. An expert estimates it at more than 3 million euros. Complete dinosaur skeletons are particularly rare. In the workshop, we restore up to two a year. The fossils arrive still trapped in sediments, and protected in a plaster shell. Here, dinosaurs are worked like jewelry. “When we approach the bones, we will catch tools that are smaller and smaller”explains Barthélémy Derville, palaeontology trainer.