NATIONAL BRIEFING / NEVADA
A 66-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton that failed to sell at a Las Vegas auction last month has been sold, the auction house says.
Thomas Lindgren of Bonhams & Butterfields said he couldn’t reveal the buyer or what he paid. But he said it was near pre-auction estimates of $5 million to $8 million.
Lindgren said the buyer intended to display the fossil -- dubbed Samson -- in an American museum, and is in talks with several institutions.
Samson is one of the three most complete T. rex specimens ever discovered, possessing the most intact skull in existence.
At the auction, the fossil had failed to meet an undisclosed minimum price. The highest bid was $3.6 million.
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