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SYDNEY, Oct 24 (AFP): Buyers from around the world have paid more than one million dollars (nearly 800,000 US) to own a species of tree thought to have been extinct until a small grove was found in Australia a decade ago, auction house Sotheby's said Monday.
The Wollemi Pine, thought to have been extinct for two million years until 15 of the trees were discovered growing in a valley west of Sydney in 1994, is believed to have existed since the Jurassic period 200 million years ago.
Cuttings from the grove, whose exact location remains a tightly kept secret, were used to produce the 292 trees, which were sold at auction Sunday in the first sale of its kind.
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