NEW YORK _ Sold to the eccentric theme park operator!
One of the world's largest Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons is headed to the auction block.
Christie's announced Wednesday it would be selling "STAN," a 67 million-year-old fossil, in early October.
The skeleton, which measures 40 feet long and 13 feet high, was discovered in 1987 in South Dakota by amateur paleontologist Stan Sacrison, who was told it was a triceratops _ a common error made because triceratops fossils are so common, James Hyslop, Christie's head of Science and Natural History, said.
However, after Sacrison took the bones to the Black Hills Institute in South Dakota in 1992, researchers quickly realized he had found something special. In subsequent follow-up digs, they recovered 188 more bones (a T. rex had an estimated 300), Hyslop said.
Christie's will put the fossil on display at its New York location and allow socially distanced public viewings until the middle of October.
"We've got the skull displayed at ground level so that you can get really up close and personal with him and just see the serrations on his teeth," Hyslop said. "His longest tooth is 11 inches long. It's just terrifying to behold."
The auction house said the skeleton, even at roughly 66% complete, is worth at much as $8 million.
