A fossilized Tyrannosaurus rex is still looking for a home after bidders failed to meet the minimum price Saturday at a Las Vegas auction.The female specimen contains roughly 170 bones, a little more than half of a full skeleton, making it the third most complete specimen ever to be discovered.
In addition, “Samson” boasts an “undistorted and virtually complete skull, considered to be one of the most complete in existence,” according to Thomas Lundgren, the Co-Consulting Director of Natural History for Bonhams and Butterfields.
The auctioneer had hoped bids would top $6 million for the T. rex dubbed "Samson." The highest bid at Saturday's auction at the Venetian hotel-casino was $3.7 million.Lindgren said the owner had sought to sell the dinosaur as soon as possible, leaving potential bidders scrambling to quickly come up with the money.
This 70-million- to- 75-million-year-old ammonite fossil was unearthed from the Bearpaw Formation, which reaches across Montana and into the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.Estimated bidding: $40,000 to $50,000
