Singapore, Oct 28 - Christie’s auction house in Singapore unveiled on Friday the “Shen-The T.rex,” set to be the first tyrannosaurus rex fossil to be auctioned in Asia.

The fossil is in Singapore for its first stop on the continent before it goes under the hammer next month in Hong Kong.

The colossal skeleton – 12.2 meters long, 4.6 meters high and 2.1 meters wide, and weighing 1,400 kilograms – is on display from Friday until Oct.30 at the Victoria Hall Theatre in the Asian city-state.

“Shen,” whose name may change depending on its next owner, is due to be auctioned at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on Nov.30.

Christie’s said in a statement that before the auction, their facilities in Singapore and Hong Kong will offer an opportunity for collectors, science enthusiasts and dinosaur fans to see and learn about this iconic and prehistoric predator.

“It is an honor to be entrusted with the first auction in Asia of a T. rex skeleton – a groundbreaking moment for the market in the region,” Christie’s Asia-Pacific head Francis Bellin said.

“Its auction in Hong Kong in November offers an unprecedented opportunity (…) to own an exceptional piece of our global natural history,” he added.

At the moment, its estimated price is only revealed to potential buyers.

Before “Shen,” two other dinosaur fossils have been auctioned – “The Raptor” was sold by Christie’s in New York for some $12.4 million in May, and “Stan” was sold for around $31.8 million in October 2020.

The fossil of “Shen” was excavated from the Hell Creek Formation in Montana, United States, by a team of paleontologists led by David A. Burnham and John R.Nudds, and is believed to have belonged to the Cretaceous period, about 68 million years ago.