A nearly complete 150-million-year-old stegosaurus skeleton sold for a record $44.6 million at auction on Wednesday.
Sotheby’s, which handled the sale in New York, described the fossil as the “most complete” and “best preserved” stegosaurus specimen of its size ever discovered. The enormous skeleton, measuring 3.3 meters high and 6 meters long, was nicknamed “Apex”.
Dinosaur remains were estimated at up to US$6 million, but sales far exceeded these expectations. It set a world record price for a fossil at auction, after a bidding war that lasted more than 15 minutes, according to Anna Tisi, a Sotheby’s representative.
The identity of the buyer has not been publicly disclosed.
The Apex skeleton was discovered in 2022 near the town of Dinosaur in Moffat County, Colorado, on the private land of a paleontologist who discovered it and remained anonymous, according to Sotheby’s. The bones were in the Morrison Formation, an expanse of sedimentary rock centered in Colorado and Wyoming that also extends into parts of 11 other states.
The fossil was found without any other specimens nearby and without signs of injury, the auction house said, adding that evidence of arthritis suggests the stegosaurus may have survived to a great age.
“’Apex’ marks an incredibly important milestone as it is simply one of the finest fossils of its kind ever discovered,” said Cassandra Hatton, global head of science and popular culture at Sotheby’s. said in a statement before sale. “Stegosaurus is one of the most universally recognized dinosaur species, whose unmistakable silhouette has been a source of fascination and admiration for generations.”
Stegosaurus is an armored, four-legged dinosaur best known for the distinctive line of kite-shaped plates on its back.
Pointy-tailed dinosaurs lived during the late Jurassic period, about 155 million years ago to 145 million years ago.
A nearly complete stegosaurus fossil known as “Sophie” belongs to the Natural History Museum in London. The Apex skeleton, however, is more than 30% larger, according to Sotheby’s.
Previously, the record for the highest price paid for a fossil at auction was set in 2020, when a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton named “Stan” sold for $31.8 million.
The first dinosaur sold at auction was a now-famous specimen known as “Process the T. rex”, which was auctioned in 1997. The Field Museum in Chicago, where it is on display, bought it for US$8.4 million.
This article was originally published in NBCNews. with
