T. rex nicknamed Gus sells at auction for record $50 million US

T. rex nicknamed Gus sells at auction for record $50 million US

Sotheby's says 67-million-year-old fossil now the most expensive set of dinosaur bones ever auctioned

A Tyrannosaurus rex fossil billed as one of the world's largest and most complete specimens sold for a record $50.1 million US (around $70.5 million Cdn) Tuesday to a mystery bidder.

Sotheby's said the 67-million-year-old fossil, nicknamed Gus, is now the most expensive set of dinosaur bones ever auctioned off, besting the almost $45-million US price tag for a nearly complete stegosaurus sold by the same New York auction house in 2024.

The previous record holder had been a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton nicknamed Stan that sold for nearly $32 million US in 2020.

"Gus is not only an exceptional find, but a specimen that's been excavated, documented, prepared and cared for with real excellence," Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby's vice chair, said after the sale was completed.

"The market responds when great specimens are taken care of in the right way."

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Standing upright with its tail extended and right foot slightly raised, Gus is an adult dinosaur specimen measuring about 3.8 metres tall and 11.5 metres long.

He's about 61 per cent complete, with what Sotheby's describes as an "exceptionally preserved" skull including a gaping jaw of powerful teeth, two "well represented" feet and a number of rarely found bones, including a furcula, or wishbone.

The fossil was discovered in 2021 on a ranch in South Dakota and named in honour of property owner Gary Licking, who died during the roughly five-year excavation, restoration and mounting process.

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The auction house said the winner, who participated by phone and wants to remain anonymous, outbid six other prospective buyers during Tuesday's 10-minute bidding battle. The piece had been estimated to fetch anywhere from $20 million to $30 million ahead of the sale.

"Try a bigger bite," auctioneer Phyllis Kao cajoled the bidders at one point during the auction, which was conducted live and online. "It's a T. rex, after all."

Scientists want Gus on public display

The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, an advocacy group of scientists, scholars and students, said scientifically significant fossils such as Gus should be publicly displayed in museums and other research institutions so that they can be "preserved, documented and accessible for future generations."

"Our hope is that the new owner recognizes the extraordinary scientific and educational value of Gus the T. rex and that they aim to keep it in the public trust by immediately donating it to an accredited natural history museum," Kristi Curry Rogers, the society's president-elect, said in a statement Tuesday.

"That outcome would ensure that this remarkable specimen continues to advance science, rather than becoming unavailable for study."

Indeed, Apex, the stegosaurus, the previous dinosaur fossil record-holder, is currently on long-term loan to the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. Sue the T. rex, the first dinosaur ever sold at auction in 1997, also by Sotheby's, is a centrepiece of the Field Museum in Chicago.

And Stan is on display at the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi, posed in combat with another fossilized T. rex over the remains of a triceratops.

Tyrannosaurus rex, whose name roughly translates to "King of the Tyrant Lizards," stood firmly at the top of the food chain when it ruled during the late Cretaceous period.

With its fearsome jawline and comically stubby arms, it has become the most recognizable and beloved of the dinosaurs, depicted in everything from children's programs like Barney, the purple T. rex, to the enduring Jurassic Park movie franchise.

The great beasts roamed what is today western North America, during a time when the region boasted "warm climates, high sea levels and rich coastal floodplains" that allowed their primary prey, giant herbivores like the triceratops, to flourish, according to Sotheby's.