A fossilized Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton nicknamed Gus sold at Sotheby's in New York on Tuesday for $50.1 million with fees (£37.4 million) to a phone bidder, making it the most valuable dinosaur fossil ever sold at auction. The sale far exceeded the pre-sale estimate of $20 million to $30 million (£15 million to £22.4 million).
Discovery and Description of Gus
The skeleton, judged to be one of the largest and most complete T. rex ever unearthed, was excavated on a ranch in Harding County, South Dakota, by the commercial fossil outfit Theropoda Expeditions. Gus takes its name from Gary "Gus" Licking, the owner of the land where the skeleton was discovered and excavated between 2021 and 2023.
Believed to be 67 million years old, Gus stands 3.8 meters (12.5 feet) tall and has a body length of approximately 38 feet. The skeleton includes 183 fossil bone elements, plus 30 of the 32 rarely found gastralia (belly ribs), making Gus approximately 61% complete by bone count and 75-80% complete by bone mass. It features an exceptionally preserved skull with all six dentitions.
Scientific Significance and Pathologies
The skeleton reveals aspects of Gus's life, including pathologies such as tyrannosaurid bite marks on the skull and right dentary, as well as several post-cranial elements, indicating combat or postmortem scavenging. Additionally, fractured and healed bones are visible in several ribs and gastralia, showing injuries sustained during life.
The skull is so large and heavy that it is not mounted on the skeleton; instead, a reproduction head is fitted. The actual skull has been displayed in the lobby of Sotheby's Breuer building, described by the auction house as having "huge teeth displayed within the gaping jaws."
Auction Details and Previous Record
Gus was listed as lot 20 in Tuesday's auction and was presented by Sotheby's as "an outstanding exhibition-ready mounted skeleton." The auction house noted that due to its size, it would require special handling or shipping services. The sale beat the previous record for a dinosaur fossil at auction, held by a stegosaurus named Apex, which sold at a Sotheby's auction in 2024 for $44.6 million.
Concerns from Paleontologists
Prior to the auction, paleontologists expressed concerns that selling such fossils into private hands could limit scientific research. Professor Richard Butler, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Birmingham in England, said, "The current trend towards dinosaur fossils being marketed and sold like rare artworks at vast prices by auction houses is very concerning, as is the idea of buying dinosaur fossils as a status symbol or a commodity. A fossil not in a recognised museum collection cannot be studied and is therefore lost to research."
Professor Stephen Brusatte of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland added, "As this dinosaur was found in the USA, and in America you can do what you want with what you find on your land, the auction looks to be legal. But as a scientist, it still concerns me."
