Near-complete Stegosaurus fossil sells for record $44 million at auction

A 150-million-year-old, nearly complete Stegosaurus skeleton sold for a record $44.6 million at auction 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 huge skeleton, measuring 11 feet tall and 20 feet long, was nicknamed “Apex.”

The dinosaur remains were estimated to fetch up to $6 million, but the sale far exceeded those 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 representative for Sotheby’s.

The buyer’s identity was not publicly disclosed.

The Apex skeleton was unearthed in 2022 near the town of Dinosaur in Moffat County, Colorado, on the private land of a paleontologist who discovered it himself and has 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 with no signs of injuries, the auction house said, adding that evidence of arthritis suggests the Stegosaurus may have survived to an advanced age.

“‘Apex’ marks an incredibly important milestone, as simply one of the best fossils of its kind ever unearthed,” Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby’s global head of science and popular culture, said in a statement before the sale. “Stegosaurus is one of the most universally recognizable dinosaur species, whose unmistakable silhouette has been a source of fascination and wonder for generations.”

The Stegosaurus is a four-legged, armored dinosaur best known for the distinct line of kite-shaped plates on its back.

The spiky-tailed dinosaurs lived during the late Jurassic period, roughly 155 million years ago to 145 million years ago.

A similarly near-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 most money 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 “Sue the T. rex,” which was auctioned in 1997. The Field Museum in Chicago, where it is displayed, bought it for $8.4 million.