Meet ‘Big John’: World’s biggest triceratops on sale in Paris

Meet ‘Big John’: World’s biggest triceratops on sale in Paris

A Paris auction house will seek to sell in October the world’s biggest known example of the dinosaur triceratops, known as “Big John”, with the spectacular skeleton on show to the public beforehand, organizers said Tuesday. The triceratops is among the most distinctive of dinosaurs due to the three horns on its head-one at the nose and two on the forehead-that give the dinosaur its Latin name. “Big John” is the largest known surviving example, 66 million years old and with a skeleton some eight meters long. It will be on display starting October 18 at the Drouot auction house in Paris, where it will be offered by the specialist auctioneers on October 21.

It is estimated that it will sell at 1.2 to 1.5 million euros ($1.4-$1.8 million), though dinosaur auction sales have proved very unpredicable in the past. The dinosaur has an export license and there are a dozen possible buyers, said Alexandre Giquello of the Giquello house. The two-meter-wide skull, some 200 bones and large horns of the animal were being assembled Tuesday behind the windows of a Drouot exhibition gallery in central Paris.

A unique specimen with the skeleton more than 60-percent complete-including 75 percent for the skull-Big