A major Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton is scheduled to go to auction at Sotheby’s in New York on Tuesday with an estimated sale price between $20 million and $30 million. The specimen, nicknamed “Gus” after the landowner who permitted its excavation, is among the largest and most complete T. rex fossils discovered to date. The skeleton stands approximately 3.8 meters tall in a mounted predatory pose and is thought to be roughly 67 million years old. The fossil was discovered and excavated over a three-year period beginning in 2021 on a ranch in Harding County, South Dakota, by the commercial fossil company Theropoda Expeditions.
The auction has prompted significant concern within the scientific community about the commercialization of fossil specimens. Multiple vertebrate paleontologists expressed worry that acquiring fossils at auction increasingly places them beyond the financial reach of museums and universities. The high prices effectively remove these specimens from the public scientific domain, preventing researchers from accessing and studying the fossils. Paleontologist Richard Butler of the University of Birmingham noted that fossils housed in private collections cannot be properly studied and are essentially lost to the scientific community.
The commercialization of dinosaur fossils represents a growing trend, with wealthy individuals and celebrities purchasing specimens as status symbols or investments. This development contrasts sharply with how fossil science has traditionally operated. The highest-priced fossil sale on record involved a stegosaurus specimen that sold for $44.6 million in 2024, far exceeding its initial estimate. Earlier fossil auctions, such as the 1997 sale of the T. rex specimen “Sue,” were acquired by museums with support from donors and corporations.
Scientists emphasized that fossils housed in permanent public repositories are essential for validating research findings and ensuring scientific reproducibility. Many academic journals now require that published research on fossils be based on specimens held in public institutions where other researchers can access and verify the original data. Paleontologists noted that private ownership of significant specimens creates uncertainty about long-term accessibility, even when owners loan fossils to museums temporarily. Some countries, including Mongolia and Brazil, maintain legal frameworks that classify all fossils as state property, preventing commercial sales.
Defenders of the auction, including experts at Sotheby’s, argued that private commercial fossil companies perform important work recovering specimens that might otherwise remain undiscovered. Paleontologist Thomas Carr suggested that private fossil collection would be acceptable if it served as a pipeline to public institutions rather than to auction houses. Several paleontologists expressed hope that the eventual purchaser would donate the specimen to a museum where it could benefit scientific research and public education.
Originally reported by The Guardian. Read the full story →