Dinosaur fossil breaks auction record after US buyer pays $45 million
The Nearly complete fossil remains of a stegosaurus fetched $44.6 million at auction on Wednesday, Sotheby’s said. The buyer’s name was not disclosed.
The fossil, dubbed “Apex,” is considered one of the most complete fossils ever found, according to the auction house.
The price surpassed the pre-sale estimate of $4 million to $6 million and surpassed the previous auction record for a dinosaur fossil — $31.8 million for the remains of a Tyrannosaurus rex nicknamed Stanon sale in 2020.
Apex “is now in history, some 150 million years since it first appeared on this planet,” said Cassandra Hatton, head of Sotheby’s scientific business.
The sale of dinosaur fossils has caused frustration among paleontologists who believe the specimens should be kept in museums or research centers that cannot afford the high auction prices.
Sotheby’s said the anonymous buyer is American and intends to loan the Apex to a US-based institution. The buyer beat out six other bidders.
Stegosaurus is one of the most unique species in the world. dinosaurhas pointed plates on its back. Hatton has called Apex “a dinosaur from a coloring book” because of its well-preserved features.
Standing 11 feet (3.3 meters) tall and 27 feet (8.2 meters) long from nose to tail, Apex was a large stegosaur that lived long enough to show signs of arthritis, Sotheby’s said.
A commercial paleontologist named Jason Cooper discovered the fossil in 2022 on his property near, perhaps unsurprisingly, the town of Dinosaur, Colorado. The small community is located near Dinosaur National Monument and the Utah border.
