A 150-million-year-old fossil of a stegosaurus specimen is on display at Sotheby’s in New York. The fossil, named “Apex” by the paleontologist who discovered it, is expected to fetch $4 million to $6 million at auction, making it one of the most expensive fossils ever sold.
Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images
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Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images
During the Jurassic, a huge, four-legged creature with kite-shaped plates on its back roamed the Earth. Now, some 150 million years later, the skeletal remains of one of them are being auctioned.
Sotheby’s is holding a live auction on Wednesday for the stegosaurus fossil known as “Apex.” The auction house expects the specimen to sell for $4 million to $6 million, making it one of the most expensive fossils ever sold.
At 3.35 metres high and 8.25 metres long, Apex is also considered one of the most complete skeletal structures of its kind. Paleontologist Cary Woodruff was one of the scientists who visited the specimen at the Colorado dig site where it was discovered.
NPR’s Andrew Mambo spoke with Woodruff, who is also a curator at the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science in Miami.
The ‘scales’ or bony plates on a 150-million-year-old stegosaurus fossil have been discovered at Sotheby’s in New York.
Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images
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This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Cary Woodruff: The first time I saw the specimen I was with the person who had collected it in the quarry where it was found in Colorado. And the rock was incredibly hard. So it’s never been like Jurassic Parkbut it wasn’t like a beautifully laid out skeleton and oh my god you could see the whole thing clearly. But I remember at least, you know, peeking. There’s part of a stegosaurus here. And again, even for any fossil, it’s really kind of magical to see this, almost like an ugly duckling, for any fossil to see it from this preparation process to the final result. You know, it’s always very special for a scientist.
Andrew Mambo: Sotheby’s is auctioning this stegosaurus fossil on July 17th. The auction house estimates it will fetch somewhere between $4 million and $6 million. How do they determine a monetary value for something like a dinosaur fossil?
Wood straw: Speaking as a scientist, fossils have no monetary value. You know, these numbers are largely arbitrary. I mean, every fossil is literally unique. And I’m not just saying that as a scientist with a telescope. There are no two animals that are exactly the same. I don’t think fossils should be auctioned. And these auctions just continue to widen the divide between what we would call academic and commercial paleontology.
Mambo: I’ve read about people donating and having replicas and not having the exact fossil itself. Can you talk about that? Is that a viable way forward?
Wood straw: I think replicas are the best way. I mean, how many of us have a copy of a painting in our house or something? You know? the real one that you can see in a museum? And if a rich person is absolutely convinced that he wants to buy this dinosaur that is being auctioned off, that he is determined to get this specimen and see it scientifically succeed, and he wants to donate it to, in this example, a museum, then we have a cast that we put in your living room. Then you can literally display it and brag to all your friends and say, “Go to the museum and see the real one, and I was able to put it in that museum.”
The skull of the stegosaurus specimen is on display at Sotheby’s.
Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images
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NPR reached out to Cassandra Hatton, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Science and Pop Culture at Sotheby’s, to respond to criticism of fossil auctions.
“The loss of scientifically important fossils to a private collection is a concern that is often raised, but in our experience it has not happened,” Hatton said. “We see customers buying copies en masse, either for museums or to donate them.”