Sotheby’s sells fossil to anonymous US bidder, breaking previous auction record of $31.8 million for Tyrannosaurus rex Stan.
The largest stegosaurus skeleton ever found has sold for a record $44.6 million at auction in New York.
The 150-million-year-old skeleton, nicknamed Apex, is 3.3 meters (11 feet) tall and 8.2 meters (27 feet) long and was sold on Wednesday to an anonymous American buyer, Sotheby’s said.
The staggering price far exceeded the auction house’s pre-sale estimate of $4-6 million and broke the previous auction record of $31.8 million, set in 2020 by the Tyrannosaurus rex named Stan.
The sale of dinosaur fossils is controversial among scientists, who argue that the specimens belong in museums or research centers that cannot afford the high auction prices.
According to Sotheby’s, the buyer, who beat out six other bidders, wanted to loan Apex to an institution in the United States.
“Apex has now taken its place in history, some 150 million years since it first roamed the planet,” said Cassandra Hatton, head of Sotheby’s science department.
She called Apex “a coloring book dinosaur” because of its well-preserved features. The stegosaurus was one of the world’s most distinctive dinosaurs, with spiked plates on its back.
Apex was discovered in May 2022 on the private property of paleontologist Jason Cooper, near the town of Dinosaur, Colorado.
Sotheby’s worked closely with Cooper to document the entire process of discovery, excavation, restoration, preparation and installation.
In 2022, auction house Christie’s was forced to withdraw a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton just days before its Hong Kong auction due to doubts about its authenticity.
The name Apex was intended to emphasize the prominence of the find—between 79 and 85 percent fossil—within the stegosaur family. Fifty percent of a fossil is generally considered a significant find.
According to Sotheby’s, Apex lived long enough to show signs of arthritis.
Stegosaurus skeletons are on display all over the world, but Sotheby’s says Apex is 30 percent larger than Sophie, the most complete stegosaurus ever exhibited, which is housed in the Natural History Museum in London.
Wednesday’s auction fits into a rising trend in the sale of dinosaur remains.