Two dinosaur skeletons were sold for £2.6 million (€3 million) at an auction in Paris to an unidentified bidder who bought the historic fossils as design objects.
The huge skeletons of a diplodocus and an allosaurus which roamed the earth around 150 million years ago had been restored for the auction on Wednesday.
A diplodocus was a huge herbivore measuring 12 metres from “nose to tail” and was sold for £1.24 million (€1.44 million) compared to the slightly smaller allosaurus (3.8 metres) which went for £1.21 million (€1.41 million).
The allosaurus was estimated at between £474,757 (€550,000) and £561,076 (€650,000.) It would have roamed areas which we know as North America and Europe today.
The diplodocus was estimated between £388,437 (€450,000) and £474,757 (€500,000), and would have lived in North America.
Drouot auction house said the massive fossils were sold to a foreign buyer whose identity was not revealed.
Iacopo Briano, fossil sales expert said ahead of the auction: “It shows the interest of a new generation of fans both for the Jurassic era and the tools of the 21st century.
“Dinosaurs have become cool, trendy - real objects of decoration, like paintings," he told the AFP news agency.
He cited Hollywood actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Nicolas Cage as fans of such enormous prehistoric ornaments.
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