A leather bag reconstructed from cells from a Tyrannosaurus Rex could not be auctioned in Paris yesterday. The price offered was well below the estimated value, according to the Hôtel Drouot, where the auction took place.
The Giquello auction house had set the starting bid at 100,000 euros. However, the ‘unique piece’ did not fetch more than 150,000 euros during the auction. Its estimated value was 300,000 euros.
The bag was presented in Amsterdam a few months ago. It was made from collagen remnants found 25 years ago in the femur of a T-Rex in Montana, USA.
“In recent years we have developed techniques and biotechnologies. With these we can give instructions to a cell culture to produce, so to speak, real T-Rex leather in the laboratory,” Iacopo Briano, a paleontology expert involved in the sale, recently told AFP.
The Drouot auction house described it as “an object unprecedented in the history of luxury.” According to a statement, it is also a “scientific masterpiece” that makes it possible to create leather “without resorting to livestock farming.”
“Cellular leather opens up a new path: that of exclusivity that is no longer based on extraction or factory farming,” it continues.
According to Briano, this material is different from vegan leather, which is made from plastic. “We’re assuming a cell culture here, so it’s 100 percent skin. At the same time, it comes from an animal that became extinct 67 million years ago!” he assures.
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