T. rex skeleton Gus sells for a record $50M at Sotheby's auction

Key Points:

• A Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton named "Gus" sold for $50.1 million at Sotheby’s, setting a new auction record for dinosaur bones and surpassing its $20-$30 million estimate after a competitive 10-minute bidding involving seven bidders.
• Gus is one of the largest and most complete T. rex specimens ever found, standing about 12½ feet tall and 38 feet long, with 183 fossil bones representing roughly 75%-80% of the original bone mass.
• The fossil was discovered on a South Dakota cattle ranch owned by Gary "Gus" Licking, who passed away before the full excavation was completed; the skeleton was named in his honor after three years of excavation and extensive lab work.
• The sale reignited debate over the ownership of rare fossils, with the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology urging the new owner to keep Gus accessible to the public through donation to a museum for scientific research and education.
• Gus surpassed the previous auction record held by a stegosaurus skeleton named "Apex," which sold for $44.6 million in 2024 and is now on loan to the American Museum of Natural History.