How much would you pay for your own Tyrannosaurus?

A 70-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus fossil is expected to fetch at least $1.5M at auction this weekend (Heritage Auctions)

Looking for the perfect father's day gift?  Foyer sculpture? Security system?

On Sunday, a 2.5-metre tall, seven-metre long Tyrannosaurus bataar skeleton will be going up for auction in New York City.

This is the first full Tyrannosaurus available to public buyers since 1997, when "Sue," a Tyrannosaurus rex, sold for $8.3 million US was sold to Chicago's Field Museum.

The reserve bid for this "Superb Tyrannosaurus skeleton" is set at $875,000 US, but auction facilitators predict it will fetch upwards of $1.5 million.

"[This is] an impeccably preserved specimen of the sort that is almost never seen on the open market," said David Herskowitz, director of Natural History at Heritage Auctions to Live Science.

"To find any dinosaur already mounted and ready for sale is extremely rare and quite uncommon because of the amount of time, energy and money it takes to prepare a mounted specimen."

While the fossil is missing a few bits and pieces, Herskowitz calls it "museum-quality." According to the lot description the dinosaur's skull is 80 per cent complete and the body about 75 per cent complete.

The skeleton, thought to be over 70 million years old, was uncovered by an unnamed British collector in the Gobi Desert roughly eight years ago.

As for whom it will end up with, Herskowitz hopes that a philanthropist purchases the fossil and donates it to a museum. There is a chance, however, that it could end up in somebody's home or private collection he said.

"If you think about it, every major natural history museum in America was originally a private collection."

Would you pay for it to be part of yours? Let us know in the comments below. How much would you pay for a real Tyrannosaurus? Would you want one in the first place?