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The skeleton of a T-Rex dinosaur at the Aathal Dinosaur Museum in Switzerland (2024). A handbag made from T-Rex skin allegedly produced from T-Rex collagen cells failed to find a buyer at an auction in Paris
Keystone
A handbag allegedly made from reconstructed cells of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, which was to have been auctioned off for a minimum price of 300,000 euros, ultimately failed to find a new owner. The highest bid for the dinosaur handbag was only 150,000 euros, so the auction was canceled, the Drouot auction house announced Thursday evening in Paris.
The simple black bag had already been presented in Amsterdam this spring. According to the auction house, the material was made from collagen remnants of a T-Rex femur. The bone had been found 25 years ago in the U.S. state of Montana.
“In recent years, we have succeeded in developing techniques and biotechnologies that allow us to use cell culture to grow real T-Rex skin in the lab,” said paleontologist Iacopo Briano, who was involved in the auction. That is why there is now a bag made from the skin of an animal that went extinct 67 million years ago.
However, U.S. paleontologist Mary Schweitzer disputed that it was T-Rex leather. Collagen is a generic molecule found in many animals.
The Drouot auction house had touted the bag as an “unparalleled luxury item.” Furthermore, the underlying scientific process opens up the possibility of manufacturing leather bags without having to kill animals.
12.06.2026, 01:44
