Big John (dinosaur)

Big John is a fossilized Triceratops skeleton discovered by paleontologist Walter W. Stein in South Dakota's Hell Creek geological formation in 2014.[1][2] Big John is, according the original owners and various news agencies and broadcast networks, the largest known Triceratops skeleton.[3][4][5] Its 2021 auction price of €6.6 million (US$7.7 million) made it the most expensive Triceratops skeleton.

Big John the Triceratops
Big John displayed at Hôtel Drouot, Paris October 21, 2021
Common nameBig John the Triceratops
SpeciesTriceratops
Age66 million
Place discoveredSouth Dakota, U.S.
Date discovered2014
Discovered byWalter W. Stein

Discovery and description

The skeleton is roughly 66 million years old, and was discovered in May 2014 by paleontologist Walter W. Stein in South Dakota.[1][6] The excavation was completed by August 2015.[3] The remains were scattered over an area of 100 square meters.[7] The skeleton is over 60% complete with a skull that is 75% complete.[8] The skeleton measured 3 metres (9.8 ft) high and 8 metres (26 ft) long.[1] The remains, which weigh over 700 kilograms (1,500 lb), include a 2.62 metres (8 ft 7 in) skull and collar bone. The two top horns are over a meter long. The owners claimed the skeleton is about 5–10% larger than any other known Triceratops.[8] It bears the mark of a traumatic lesion on its collar, possibly the result of a fatal fight with another dinosaur.[3][7][8]

The skeleton was named "Big John", after the owner of the land where it was found.[3]

Assembly

The remains of Big John were purchased for €150,000[9] and assembled over eight or nine months by the Zoic workshop in Trieste, Italy, who had previously restored two Triceratops skeletons.[3][5] More than 200 bones were pieced together.[10] The assembly process began in January 2021[11] and was live-streamed on the company's social media channels.[12] Zoic modelled the dinosaur's posture after the Charging Bull bronze sculpture on Wall Street.[13][14] They originally considered assembling the skeleton to stand on only two legs, but this was not possible given the weight of its skull.[9] Flavio Bacchia, who supervised the assembly, estimated that the Triceratops was about 60 years old and weighed six tons at the time of its death.[7][upper-alpha 1]

Public display

The skull first went on public display in Trieste in February 2021.[15] The fully-assembled skeleton was briefly displayed in Trieste, from 30 July to 1 August 2021.[16][17] This three-day exhibition was celebrated with the release of a children's book, A dinosaur walking around Trieste, written by Barbara Battistelli and illustrated by Luca Vergerio and Gianpaolo di Silvestro.[16][18][19] From mid-September to mid-October, the skeleton was displayed at the Rue des Archives in Paris, France.[14]

Auction and sale

On 21 October 2021, the skeleton was sold for €6.6 million (US$7.7 million) by the Hôtel Drouot auction house in Paris,[3][20] exceeding the expected sale price of US$1.4–1.7 million.[3] It was purchased by an unnamed US collector, who beat out 10 other bidders.[3][20][21] The high sale price signalled increasing demand for dinosaur fossils among private collectors.[1][22] Some scientists, including Francis Duranthon, from the Toulouse Museum of Natural History,[20] and Paul Barrett, from the Natural History Museum, London,[22] expressed concern that this higher demand was pushing prices beyond what public museums can afford and would make specimens inaccessible to researchers.[1] The auctioneer for the sale, Alexandre Giquello, said that skyrocketing prices for dinosaur fossils are "creating a new market."[1]

The price was substantially lower than the $27.5 million ($31.8 million with fees and costs) paid in 2020 to buy a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton named Stan.[1] It is part of a larger run up in auction prices for dinosaur remains.[23][24]

See also

References

Notes
  1. Bacchia opined that, "It's a masterpiece," and "There are quite a few triceratops skulls around in the world, but very few of them almost complete."[1]

Citations
  1. "Big John, largest known triceratops skeleton, sold at auction". BBC News. October 21, 2021. Retrieved October 26, 2021.
  2. Dolan, Leah (October 22, 2021). "'Big John,' the world's largest Triceratops ever found, sells for $7.7 million". CNN. Retrieved October 26, 2021.
  3. Pant, Anuj (October 22, 2021). "World's largest triceratops skeleton sells for $7.7mn at Paris auction house". The Independent. Retrieved October 23, 2021.
  4. Cabrera, Michaela; Melander, Ingrid (October 21, 2021). "Lifestyle: Remains of 'Big John', largest known triceratops, fetch nearly $8 mln". Reuters. Retrieved October 26, 2021.
  5. "Largest Triceratops skeleton ever discovered set to fetch over $1m at auction". Guinness World Records. October 13, 2021. Retrieved October 23, 2021.
  6. Weisberger, Mindy. "Who will buy 'Big John,' the biggest triceratops ever found?". Live Science. Future US, Inc. Retrieved October 23, 2021.
  7. Šuligoj, Boris (May 13, 2021). "(Majhen) dinozaver sredi dnevne sobe". www.delo.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved October 23, 2021.
  8. "Big John, largest known triceratops skeleton, goes on display before auction". The Guardian. September 1, 2021. Retrieved October 26, 2021.
  9. Čepar, Nataša (July 30, 2021). "Veliki John sredi Velikega trga v Trstu". www.delo.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved October 23, 2021.
  10. "Big John, largest known triceratops skeleton, sold at auction". BBC News. October 21, 2021. Retrieved October 22, 2021.
  11. Brusaferro, Micol (January 20, 2021). "VIDEO | Arrivato a Trieste Big John, triceratopo millenario gigantesco". Dire.it (in Italian). Retrieved October 23, 2021.
  12. "Big Johnu vračajo nekdanji blišč". Primorske novice (in Slovenian). January 26, 2021. Retrieved October 23, 2021.
  13. Giraldi, Nicolò (July 30, 2021). "Il giorno di Big John è arrivato, in piazza Unità il più grande triceratopo al mondo". TriestePrima (in Italian). Retrieved October 23, 2021.
  14. France, Connexion. "World's largest known triceratops dinosaur up for auction in Paris". www.connexionfrance.com. Retrieved October 23, 2021.
  15. "In Italia si ricostruisce il triceratopo più grande al mondo - Friuli V. G." (in Italian). Agenzia ANSA. March 10, 2021. Retrieved October 23, 2021.
  16. "Triceratops Big John prihaja na tržaški Veliki trg". Primorske novice (in Slovenian). July 28, 2021. Retrieved October 23, 2021.
  17. "Big John, il dinosauro di Trieste, si mostra dal vivo in piazza. Eventi e incontri gratuiti per tutti". Eventi & Turismo in Venezia Friuli Giulia (in Italian). August 1, 2021. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
  18. "Big John - The Triceratops". Turismo FVG. July 2021. Archived from the original on October 23, 2021. Retrieved October 23, 2021.
  19. Premuda, Corrado (March 5, 2021). ""Un dinosauro a spasso per Trieste" scopre i segreti della città scientifica". Il Piccolo (in Italian). Finegil Editoriale SPA, a subsidiary of Gruppo Espresso. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
  20. "Largest triceratops ever unearthed sold for €6.6m at Paris auction". The Guardian. Agence France-Presse in Paris. October 21, 2021.
  21. "Triceratops Skeleton Sold at Paris Auction For Over $7 Million to American Collector" (Video). NBC News. October 21, 2021. Retrieved October 26, 2021 – via YouTube.
  22. Ashworth, James (October 22, 2021). "Largest known Triceratops fossil sells for £5.6 million". Natural History Museum, London. Archived from the original on October 24, 2021. Retrieved October 26, 2021.
  23. Kundu, Kishalaya. "'Big John,' Hits The Auction Block:The world's largest known triceratops skeleton, 'Big John', will be up for auction on 21 October at Paris, where it is expected to fetch up to €1.5m". Screen rants. Dinosaur skeletons are hot property in the global auction scene, thanks in part to movies like Jurassic Park and Jurassic World. Last year, the skeleton of an allosaurus, one of the oldest dinosaurs and a preedecessor of the T-Rex, was snapped up by an anonymous buyer for more than €3m, almost twice the estimate. However, that's a pittance compared to the record of $31.8 million that was paid for the skeleton of a T-Rex named Stan that researchers expected to fetch only between $6-$8 million.
  24. Shariff, Hannah (October 9, 2020). "Meet Stan, The World's Most Expensive Tyrannosaurus Rex Fossil". Retrieved October 26, 2021. On October 6, 2020, an anonymous buyer paid an astounding $27.5 million ($31.8 million with fees and costs) to own Stan, one of the world's largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex (T. rex) skeletons.

Further reading
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