The first near-complete skeleton of a flightless dodo bird to come up for sale in nearly 100 years is set to fetch close to $1 million next week, auctioneers predict.

The 95 per cent finished composite skeleton has been painstakingly constructed by a man who started buying bones from private collections and auctions in the 1970s.

The 95 per cent finished composite skeleton. Photo: PA Wire

The collector has now decided to part with the item, which is set to fetch up to GBP500,000 ($A834,400) at Summers Place Auctions in Billingshurst, West Sussex, on November 22.

Its natural history curator, Errol Fuller, said: “I am sure I won’t be the only one among dodo experts who thinks that this is an amazingly rare opportunity for the acquisition of one of the great icons of extinction.”

Dodos, which were popularised by their role in the novel Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, grew to one metre tall and were flightless birds with pigeons as their closest relatives.

First seen by Dutch sailors in 1598, they lived on the island of Mauritius and became extinct around just 70 years after their discovery.

The Mauritian government has since banned exports of dodo bones, and auctioneers believe it highly unlikely that another composite skeleton will come up for sale again.

-AAP