T rex skeleton sells for almost €5m at Zurich auction

Cyril Koller, chief executive of auction house Koller, stands next to the head of the skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex named Trinity, during an auction in Zurich, Switzerland (Michael Buholzer/Keystone via AP/PA)

Nearly 300 Tyrannosaurus rex bones that were dug up from three sites in the United States and assembled into a single skeleton have sold at an auction in Switzerland for 4.8 million francs (€4.9m).

Crafted into an open-mouth pose, the T rex skeleton measuring 11.6 metres long (38 feet) and 3.9 metres high (12.8 feet) came in under the anticipated range of five to eight million francs (€5m to €8.1m) when it went under the hammer at the Koller auction house in Zurich.