A fossilized Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton nicknamed Gus sold at Sotheby's in New York on Tuesday for $50.1 million with fees, setting a new record for the most valuable dinosaur fossil ever sold at auction. The skeleton, one of the largest and most complete ever unearthed, was excavated on a ranch in Harding County, South Dakota, by Theropoda Expeditions.
Gus exceeds pre-sale estimates
The final price far exceeded the pre-sale estimate of $20 million to $30 million. Gus, named after landowner Gary "Gus" Licking, was discovered and excavated between 2021 and 2023. The skeleton is believed to be 67 million years old, standing 3.8 meters tall, with a body length of approximately 38 feet, a skull length of 54 inches, and a femur length of 50.39 inches.
Gus contains 183 fossil bone elements, plus 30 of the 32 rarely found gastralia (belly ribs), making it approximately 61% complete by bone count and 75-80% complete by bone mass. The skeleton has an exceptionally preserved skull with all six dentitions and shows signs of bite marks, fractured and healed bones, and other pathologies.
Scientific concerns over private sale
The sale has sparked concern among paleontologists who argue that such high-priced auctions place fossils out of reach of academic institutions, limiting research. Professor Richard Butler of the University of Birmingham said, "A fossil not in a recognized museum collection cannot be studied and is therefore lost to research. Fossils have been bought and sold for hundreds of years, but prices are increasingly out of the reach of museums, much to the detriment of science."
Professor Stephen Brusatte of the University of Edinburgh noted that while the auction appears legal under U.S. law, "as a scientist, it still concerns me." The previous record was held by a stegosaurus named Apex, which sold for $44.6 million in 2024.
