Visitors throng T-Rex skeleton exhibit ahead of first such Christie's auction in Asia
Thousands of residents and tourists in Singapore are expected to have a roaring good time at a preview of a rare skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex starting on Friday (October 28), ahead of its auction by Christie's in Hong Kong next month.
Over 4,000 tickets were snapped up in the weeks prior to the exhibit of the T-Rex, named "Shen" the Chinese word for god, leaving some visitors with no choice but to queue up for walk in tickets for a chance to see the 12.2 metres long by 4.6 metres high dinosaur fossil which weighs 1,400 kg.
“Heard that they are open to public for viewing and the queue. So we were very excited, we got up very early to prepare to come,” said retiree Nancy Seet who brought her grandchildren to the exhibition.
Meanwhile dinosaur enthusiasts Gabriel Chew and Richard Chan were impressed by the creature which would have lived 68 – 66 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period.
“So, sort of like reliving my childhood. Yeah, and personally I collect a lot of like Jurassic Park T-Rex figurines so really cool to see an actual one life right here today,” said Chan.
This is the first auction of a T-Rex fossil in Asia, according to Christie's and was only the third T-Rex skeleton to be auctioned in history despite some experts saying such rare historically-significant objects should not be auctioned to private collectors, where the public and scientists will not be able to access them.
President at Christie’s Asia Pacific, Francis Belin, said that they hope these 'exceptional' objects can make their way to the public institutions, to be exposed to 'public eyes'.
A guide price was not provided for Shen, but a previous sale of a T-Rex skeleton “Stan” fetched $31.8 million in New York, while a raptor was bought for $12.4 million, Belin said. “Stan” will be on display at the Louvre Abu Dhabi and the buyer of the raptor is in discussion to display the fossil at a public institution.
Shen the T-Rex is available for public preview for three days until Sunday (October 30) before it will be shipped off to Hong Kong for the auction on November 30.
