Stegosaurus fossil fetches nearly $45M, setting record for dinosaur auctions

NEW YORK (AP) — The almost full fossilized stays of a stegosaurus fetched $44.6 million at public sale Wednesday, Sotheby’s mentioned. The customer’s identify was not disclosed.

The fossil, dubbed “Apex,” is taken into account to be among the many most full ever discovered, in keeping with the public sale home.

The value blew previous a pre-sale estimate of $4 million to $6 million and previous a previous public sale report for dinosaur fossils — $31.8 million for the stays of a Tyrannosaurus rex nicknamed Stan, bought in 2020.

Apex “has now taken its place in historical past, some 150 million years because it roamed the planet,” mentioned Cassandra Hatton, who heads Sotheby’s science-related enterprise.

Dinosaur fossil gross sales stir some frustration amongst educational paleontologists who really feel the specimens belong in museums or analysis facilities that may’t afford large public sale costs.

Sotheby’s mentioned the nameless purchaser is American and intends to look into loaning Apex to an establishment within the U.S. The purchaser beat out six different bidders.

The stegosaurus was one of many world’s most distinctive dinosaurs, that includes pointy plates on its again. Hatton has referred to as Apex “a coloring e book dinosaur,” for its well-preserved options.

Eleven toes (3.3 meters) tall and 27 toes (8.2 meters) nostril to tail, Apex was a giant stegosaurus that lived lengthy sufficient to point out indicators of arthritis, Sotheby’s mentioned.

A industrial paleontologist named Jason Cooper found the fossil in 2022 on his property close to, maybe unsurprisingly, the city of Dinosaur, Colorado. The tiny group is close to Dinosaur Nationwide Monument and the Utah border.