According to the most important auction house in the world, Christie, it had to reach a figure between 4 and 6 million dollars. But Hector, the most complete Deinonychus antirrhopus skeleton ever found, amazed everyone and was sold for $ 12.4 million. With over 100 million springs behind him and a “terrible claw” as indicated by its name in ancient Greek, Hector is in a “remarkable state of preservation” according to Christie.
The dinosaur’s bones were found in 2013 in Montana and dates back to the Cretaceous period, specifically to an era between 115 and 108 million years ago. Before Hector, only two other Deinonychus specimens had been found in the same condition. One is on display at the American Museum of Natural History and was also an inspiration for the scenes in Jurassic Park: while not directly mentioned, many of its features were captured in the film’s dinosaurs.