RAPID CITY, S.D., July 15 (Rapid City Online) — A Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton nicknamed “Gus” sold at Sotheby’s for $50.1 million, setting a record as the most expensive dinosaur fossil ever sold at auction. Sotheby’s said the skeleton is about 67 million years old and is one of the largest and most complete T. rex specimens ever discovered.
What was sold?
The item was a mounted T. rex skeleton, not a single bone or tooth. Sotheby’s described Gus as about 38 feet long and 12.5 feet tall, with a skull about 54 inches long. The auction house said the specimen included 183 fossil bone elements and represented about 75% to 80% of the dinosaur’s original bone mass.
Reports on bone-count completeness varied. Some coverage, citing Sotheby’s, put the skeleton at about 61% complete by bone count, while other reports said about 63%. The difference is a reminder that fossil measurements can be reported in more than one way.
Where did Gus come from?
Sotheby’s said the fossil was found on a cattle ranch in Harding County, South Dakota, on land owned by the late Gary “Gus” Licking. Fox News reported, based on Sotheby’s account, that Licking had spent years finding teeth and small bone fragments on his property before working with Thomas Heitkamp and the Theropoda Expeditions team to search for something larger. Sotheby’s said the fossil was named Gus after Licking.
BBC reported that the discovery team spent three years carefully excavating the specimen.
Why did the price climb so high?
The main reason is rarity. Big, mostly complete T. rex skeletons are unusual, and Sotheby’s presented Gus as one of the best examples known. In fossil auctions, size, completeness and condition can matter as much as age.
The sale also drew fierce competition. Sotheby’s said seven bidders took part in a 10-minute bidding war. The winning bidder was on the phone and remained anonymous.
How does this compare with past records?
Before Gus, the best-known benchmark was Stan, another T. rex skeleton that sold at Christie’s for nearly $32 million. That earlier sale had already made Stan the most expensive fossil sold at auction at the time.
Gus passed that mark by a wide margin, pushing dinosaur fossils further into the high-end art and collectibles market.
What is known with confidence?
The facts that are well established are the sale price, the auction house, the record-setting result, the South Dakota ranch origin, and the broad size and completeness of the specimen as described by Sotheby’s. What is less certain in the public reporting is the exact completeness figure by bone count, since secondary reports did not match each other. The buyer’s identity also has not been made public.
For South Dakota, the fossil adds another chapter to the state’s dinosaur history. The ranch-country discovery links the state to one of the best-known T. rex auction sales ever recorded, even though the sale itself took place at Sotheby’s in New York.
