US to auction rare T-Rex skeleton

A rare Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton, among the most complete specimens in the world, is to go on the auction block in Las Vegas in October, the auction house Bonhams & Butterfields has said.

The T-Rex, which goes by the name "Samson," is believed to be some 66 million years old and was discovered in the midwestern state of South Dakota in 1992.

"We have been able to establish that we have approximately a 57 percent complete T-Rex, which means the third most complete ever found," said Thomas Lindgren, consulting co-director of Natural History in Bonhams & Butterfields.

"I think my estimate is going to be somewhere in the neighborhood of six to eight million dollars," he said.

The owners of the 12-meter-long (39-foot-long) skeleton hope "a public museum or institution would actually be the buyer ultimately," he added.

In 1997, the skeleton of a T-Rex named "Sue," which were 73 percent complete, were sold for 8.3 million dollars.

Dozens of other fossils are also to be auctioned at the event, to be held in the Venetian hotel-casino in Las Vegas.

(c) 2009 AFP