On April 18, the eagerly awaited auction of “TRX-293 Trinity”, the first skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex in European auction history, took place at Koller in Zurich. About 35,000 visitors flocked to the exhibition in advance of the auction event to see the prehistoric lizard with its impressive dimensions of 38 x 12.7 feet.
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Starting at an estimate of 5-8 million Swiss francs, "Trinity" fetched 4.8 million Swiss francs and including premium, the final result was CHF 5.5 million (about $6.2 million). After initially vaguely mentioning a buyer from Europe after the auction, Koller is now able to announce their identity: The Phoebus Foundation, a non-profit arts foundation based in Antwerp dedicated to the purchase and preservation of works of art. The foundation plans to publicly exhibit “Trinity” in a new cultural center in Antwerp in the near future.
"We are incredibly proud to announce that this spectacular specimen will be part of a significant Phoebus Foundation project, namely the so-called Boerentoren," commented Dr. Katharina Van Cauteren, Chief of Staff of the Chancellery of The Phoebus Foundation. "This iconic building, in the heart of Antwerp, will be renewed and transformed by the renowned architectural firm Studio Libeskind into a culture tower, containing – amongst others – our extensive art collection, now including this memorable addition called Trinity. Correspondingly, the dinosaur will go on public display in the Boerentoren, where art lovers, historians, researchers, enthusiasts and all other visitors can fully enjoy the history and beauty of art, science, architecture and more in all its facets."
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The "Boerentoren" ("Farmer's Tower") was built in the Art Deco style for the Antwerp World Exhibition in 1930, and, with its original height of 287 feet, was the highest skyscraper in Europe at the time (after renovations it is 318 feet high today). It owes its nickname to the fact that most of the customers of the credit bank that financed the construction were farmers. In 2020, the subsequent KBC Group sold the Boerentoren to the entrepreneur and patron Fernand Huts, whose art collection, which he built together with his wife Karine Van den Heuvel, forms the core of The Phoebus Foundation.
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However, since the conversion of the Boerentoren into a cultural center will take a few more years, Dr. Katharina Van Cauteren said that the foundation is considering loaning "Trinity" to a museum until then "so that the public can already enjoy this unique specimen."
"This is for us is the absolute best outcome that we could have imagined for the sale of this wonderful fossil," said Cyril Koller, Koller's owner and managing director. "We are extremely pleased that Trinity will be made available to the public and to science for years to come, and that she will be in very good hands."
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