A Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton nicknamed Gus was sold at Sotheby's in New York for $50.1 million with fees to a phone bidder. Standing 12.5 feet tall and measuring roughly 38 feet long, the specimen is considered one of the largest and most complete T rex skeletons ever discovered. The dinosaur roamed the planet 67 million years ago and took three years to excavate from a ranch in South Dakota.
The final price far exceeded the pre-sale estimate of $20 million to $30 million, setting a new auction record for a dinosaur fossil. This sale surpasses the $44.6 million paid by billionaire hedge funder Ken Griffin for a stegosaurus skeleton in 2024.
Despite the record-breaking sale, palaeontologists warned before the auction that super-rich collectors are harming research. While dinosaur bones have been sold to the highest bidder in the past, the sale of the fearsome predator highlights ongoing concerns regarding the impact of private ownership on scientific study.