“Gus,” a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, is pictured during a press preview at Sotheby’s in New York City on July 1.
Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images
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Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images
If you’ve ever dreamed of owning a real T. rex, your opportunity has arrived, though it will come at a hefty price. The price tag is expected to be in the millions.
The Tyrannosaurus rex fossil, affectionately named “Gus,” will be up for auction at Sotheby’s New York City office on Tuesday morning. Bidding for this dinosaur will begin at $19 million, with estimates suggesting it could sell for between $20 and $30 million.
Gus was discovered in Harding County, South Dakota, on private land in 2021, according to Sotheby’s. Measuring 38 feet in length and 12.5 feet in height, this T. rex is believed to date back approximately 67 million years to the late Cretaceous period.
“Based on its size and bone development, Gus’ skeleton is identified as a large, robust adult,” Sotheby’s detailed in its listing.
Thomas Heitkamp, president of Theropoda Expeditions, the company responsible for the excavation, explained in a Sotheby’s video about the find that nearly a thousand pieces were retrieved.
The dinosaur is named in honor of Gary “Gus” Licking, the ranch owner where it was unearthed. He passed away during the excavation, which concluded in 2023, and did not see Gus fully assembled, according to Cassandra Hatton of Sotheby’s.
“Gary spent years exploring his 6,500-acre land, spotting T. rex teeth and fossil fragments. He suspected something significant lay underground,” Hatton shared in the video.
According to Sotheby’s, Gus ranks among the largest and most complete T. rex specimens ever found.
This isn’t the first time dinosaur remains have hit the auction block.
Sotheby’s hosted the first dinosaur auction in 1997, selling a T. rex named Sue to several major companies for the Field Museum in Chicago at a price of $8.4 million.
In 2024, a stegosaurus named Apex set a record by selling for $44.6 million, the highest amount ever for a dinosaur fossil. It was acquired by billionaire investor Ken Griffin, who lent it to the American Museum of Natural History in New York for four years.
Paleontologist Scott Persons, curator of natural history at the South Carolina State Museum, notes that the soaring prices for dinosaurs reflect increased market interest.
“Dinosaurs are being sold at increasingly exorbitant prices,” Persons mentioned in an email to NPR.
He suggested that those with the means to participate in such auctions could better support research efforts.
“Such a sum could fund a research program at a public museum, covering a career’s worth of fieldwork, new species discoveries, and public exhibitions,” he added.
