A handbag made from Tyrannosaurus rex leather failed to sell at auction on Thursday.
The bid for the unique item peaked at €150,000 during the auction, held at the Hôtel Drouot in Paris. As the €300,000 reserve price was not met, the bag remained unsold.
The dinosaur leather bag was first revealed earlier this year in Amsterdam. It was crafted using collagen protein remnants extracted 25 years ago from the thigh bone of a T. rex unearthed in Montana, USA.
Palaeontologist Iacopo Briano, involved in the auction, explained that advancements in biotechnology have enabled the cultivation of authentic T. rex skin in a laboratory through cell culture techniques.
He emphasised that the leather is entirely genuine and derives from an animal that went extinct 67 million years ago.
In a statement, Hôtel Drouot described the handbag as a “never-before-seen object” in the history of luxury goods.
The auction house highlighted that the innovative technique offers a sustainable alternative to traditional leather production by eliminating the need for livestock farming.
