Christie’s Cancels T-Rex Skeleton Sale Following Doubts Over Its Authenticity

Whoops. It looks like dinosaur enthusiasts may not be getting their hands on a T. rex skeleton after all. Christie’s has pulled the momentous lot, dubbed ‘Shen’, from auction after doubts were raised over its provenance. 

The auction house told the BBC that the fossil, which was expected to fetch up to US$25 million, was now being loaned to a museum instead, and it did not give a reason as to why the relic was unexpectedly withdrawn from the November 30 sale in Hong Kong. 

It’s likely the sudden decision has to do with rumors swirling regarding the authenticity of the skeleton, with The New York Times reporting a US fossil firm raised concerns that it bore resemblance to another T. rex model named ‘Stan’. 

The Black Hills Institute, the company in question, holds the intellectual property rights to Stan, thereby being allowed to produce and sell replicas of the dinosaur. Peter Larson, its president, had flagged that Shen’s skull looked similar to Stan’s, down to the unique holes in its jaw. 

As such, Larson posited that Shen’s owner—who remains a secret—could have bought a replica of Stan and used the model’s bones to complete the skeleton of Shen, before passing it off as the real deal. 

Understandably, it’s incredibly rare for complete dinosaur skeletons to be found. Shen was thought to have been excavated from Montana, standing 15 feet tall, and is believed to have been an adult male T. rex that roamed the Earth 67 million years ago. 

After being contacted by Lawson’s lawyer, Christie’s initially changed the online listing for the lot—which initially said 80 of the dinosaur’s bones were original—confirming that “replica bones were added to the original bones,” and that none of Shen’s teeth were real.

Emphasizing that no T. rex skeleton model is entirely made up of original bones, the auction house told BBC News it still believed “the original elements of Shen are authentic,” though the listing of the skeleton is no longer available on its website. 

Will Shen show up in a museum elsewhere? Or will it return to auction after further authentication? No one seems to know the truth behind this dinosaur fossil. 

[via BBC and The Guardian, cover image via Piyaphun Juntraverot | Dreamstime.com]