T. rex leather bag to fetch over $500,000 at Paris auction
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A unique leather bag crafted from T. rex cells, using biotechnological methods to recreate dinosaur skin in a lab, is set to be auctioned in Paris with an estimated price exceeding $500,000.
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Why It Matters
A leather bag has been created using biotechnological techniques to produce T. rex skin in a laboratory from collagen traces found in a T. rex femur. This material is distinct from vegan leather and is derived from an extinct dinosaur.
A leather bag made from Tyrannosaurus rex cells will be auctioned off on Thursday by Paris auction house Giquello, estimating the “one-of-a-kind” piece could sell for more than US$500,000.
Unveiled in the spring in Amsterdam, the bag was created from traces of collagen from the femur of a T. rex found in the US state of Montana 25 years ago.
“In recent years, we’ve developed techniques – biotechnologies that allow us to instruct a cell culture to produce, so to speak, genuine T. rex skin in the laboratory,” said Iacopo Briano, a palaeontology expert associated with the sale.
The auction house Drouot, where the bag is to be sold at 6pm, described it as “an object without precedent in the history of luxury” and a “scientific feat” that makes it possible to create leather “without any reliance on animal rearing”, in a recent statement.
Briano noted the material differs from vegan leather, which is mostly made from plastic.
“In this case, it’s derived from a cell culture, so it’s 100 per cent skin. And at the same time, it comes from an animal that went extinct 67 million years ago,” he said.
Open Questions
- What specific biotechnological techniques were used?
- What is the exact composition of the 'T. rex skin' produced in the lab?
- What are the long-term durability and ethical implications of using such materials?
- Who is the creator or the entity that developed these techniques?
