A remarkably complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton will be offered for sale Tuesday morning at Sotheby's New York City office, with the auction house estimating the prehistoric specimen could command between $20 million and $30 million. The starting bid for the dinosaur, known as 'Gus,' is set at $19 million.
The fossil was discovered in Harding County, South Dakota, on private land in 2021. Standing 12 and a half feet tall and stretching 38 feet in length, the skeleton is believed to date from the late Cretaceous period approximately 67 million years ago.
According to Sotheby's listing, the specimen represents an exceptional find. The auction house noted that judging from the overall size and degree of bone development, the skeleton belonged to a very large, robust, adult individual. Nearly a thousand pieces were collected during the excavation process, according to Thomas Heitkamp, president of Theropoda Expeditions, the company that conducted the dig.
The dinosaur bears the name of Gary 'Gus' Licking, the owner of the 6,500-acre ranch where it was unearthed. Licking had observed T. rex teeth and fossil fragments scattered across his property for years, recognizing that something significant likely lay beneath the surface. Tragically, he died during the excavation process, which continued through 2023, and never saw the fully assembled skeleton, according to Cassandra Hatton of Sotheby's.
Sotheby's identifies Gus as one of the largest and most complete T. rex specimens ever discovered, positioning it among an elite group of fossils that have captured public and collector interest in recent decades.
The sale continues a trend of dinosaur fossils entering the private market at extraordinary prices. Sotheby's held the first dinosaur auction in 1997, when a T. rex named Sue sold for $8.4 million. That specimen was purchased by several large companies for the Field Museum in Chicago. More recently, in 2024, a stegosaurus named Apex set the record for the most expensive dinosaur fossil ever sold, fetching $44.6 million. Billionaire investor Ken Griffin purchased Apex and loaned it to the American Natural History Museum in New York for four years.
The escalating prices reflect what paleontologists describe as growing market demand for these rare specimens. Scott Persons, curator of natural history at the South Carolina State Museum, characterized the trend as concerning for scientific research. "More and more dinosaurs are being sold this way and at ridiculous prices," Persons told NPR.
The sale of such specimens to private collectors raises questions about public access to scientifically significant fossils and whether these resources might be better utilized supporting museum research programs and public education. As dinosaur auctions continue to break records, the tension between private collecting and scientific advancement remains an ongoing debate within the paleontological community.
