Saudi to auction eight dinosaur eggs

A Saudi man is planning to hold the world’s first auction to involve dinosaur eggs and hopes to raise nearly SR1.5 million (Dh1.48 million), the Saudi Arabic language daily Alyoum reported on Wednesday.

The unidentified owner of the eggs has invited all those interested in collecting rare fossils for the auction at a private exhibition hall owned by well-known Saudi geologist Abdulla Aladeeni in the eastern town of Dhahran.

Alyoum said the man, from the eastern Saudi Alihsa province, is keeping eight fossil embryos of a dinosaur he had found and that all of them have been authenticated by seven global institutes.

The eggs have also been examined and verified by a well-known Australian fossils institution, rated among the world’s five largest fossil studies firms.

“It will be the world’s first auction for dinosaur eggs…the owner says he had shown his possessions at exhibitions in Al Ain (UAE) and Louvre in France…he expects the eggs to fetch him nearly SR1.5 million.”

The paper said the auction would take place at “Danat exhibition centre” but provided no date for the event.