Scientists wanted this T. rex in a museum. It sold for $50.1 million instead

Ahead of a record-setting Sotheby’s auction, the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology urged that scientifically important fossils remain in public museums and research institutions rather than pass into private hands. The society’s vice president, Kristina Curry Rogers, said ‘the discovery of an important fossil is only the beginning of its scientific story,’ noting that many groundbreaking discoveries have come years or even decades after fossils were first excavated, as new technology lets scientists ask fresh questions of museum collections.

The appeal did not stop the sale. The fossil in question, a 67-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton nicknamed ‘Gus,’ sold for $50.1 million at the New York auction, becoming the most expensive dinosaur fossil ever sold. The price shattered the previous record held by the stegosaurus ‘Apex,’ which sold for nearly $45 million in 2024, and the T. rex skeleton ‘Stan,’ which fetched close to $32 million in 2020.

According to Sotheby’s, Gus is a 38-foot-long (11.5-metre) specimen and one of the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex fossils ever discovered. It stands around 12.5 feet (3.8 metres) tall, is 63 per cent complete, and its preserved bones account for an estimated 75 to 80 per cent of the animal’s total mass, including an exceptionally preserved skull, two well-preserved feet and a rare furcula, or wishbone.

Gus was discovered in 2021 on a ranch in South Dakota, almost by chance, after a fossil-hunting team explored a different area following a nearby excavation. A five-year excavation, mapping and restoration project followed, during which nearly 1,000 individual fossil pieces were recovered, catalogued and reassembled by hand before Gus was mounted on a custom-built frame inside a local pickleball court, one of the few buildings large enough for it.

Before the auction, Gus had been expected to fetch between $20 million and $30 million. The final price ran far past that estimate after six bidders pushed the sale into a 10-minute bidding battle, with auctioneer Phyllis Kao urging, ‘Try a bigger bite. It’s a T. rex, after all.’ The winning bidder’s identity has not been disclosed.

Sotheby’s vice chair Cassandra Hatton said the result reflected the fossil’s extraordinary quality: ‘Gus is not only an exceptional find, but a specimen that’s been excavated, documented, prepared, and cared for with real excellence. The market responds when great specimens are taken care of in the right way.’

Wikimedia Commons/by Eirik Newth