Holy Smokes! Big John the Tricera Hits the Auction Block for €6.65 Million
Picture this: a massive triceratops – the biggest one ever spotted by science – just popped up at a fancy Paris auction and a nameless U.S. collector walked away with it for 6.65 million euros (about $10.8 million). That’s a pretty hefty ticket to the prehistoric club.
Who is Big John?
The dinosaur, dubbed Big John after the landowner where the fossil hit the ground, roamed the plains of what’s now South Dakota more than 66 million yrs ago. His skull alone stretches 2.62 m long and 2 m wide – basically the king of the gentle giants.
The Road to Paris
- 2014: The very first bone – a skull fragment – is unearthed. It’s the herald of what’s to come.
- By 2015: Paleontologists had pulled out about 60 % of the skeleton – a feat as rare as finding a unicorn. The remnants, over 200 pieces, were painstakingly reassembled in Italy.
- Price tag? The auction house Drouot pegged the hammer price at €5.5 million before any extra fees.
- Reality check: The skull bore a bruising, probably from a cheeky triceratops opponent. Tragic, but to the science crowd it’s a priceless piece of the fossil story.
“The history and the curation are absolutely impressive,” says Djuan Rivers, the buy‑er’s agent. “It’s a rare chance to keep a US treasure just like the one shipped to the museum.”
Why This Matters
Despite being country‑wide, the record sale is a European first – a marker that dinosaur fossils are not just a niche hobby, they’re a booming market. “We’re creating a market,” says auctioneer Alexandre Giquello. Meanwhile, Charlottesville’s famous T‑rex skeleton once fetched a whopping $31.8 million last year at Christie’s. So these giant sales are not just about the bones; they’re about betting on the future of Jurassic memorabilia.
Fun Fact
Triceratops: it literally means “three‑horned face.” Think of it as a rhinoceros with a fashion sense for three horns.
