T. rex fossil 'Gus' sells for $50.13m at auction, setting record — but scientists worry

A Tyrannosaurus rex fossil sold for $50.13 million at a Sotheby's auction in New York, setting a record as the most expensive fossil ever sold at auction. Scientists, however, expressed concern that a private sale could restrict research on the specimen.

According to Sotheby's, the fossil — a T. rex named "Gus" — went under the hammer Tuesday at Sotheby's New York, where seven bidders competing online, by phone and in person drove the price to its final figure of $50.13 million over more than 10 minutes of intense bidding.

The room erupted in cheers the moment the final price was confirmed.

Gus sold for roughly double its low pre-sale estimate of $20 million to $30 million.

The previous record was held by "Apex," a Stegosaurus skeleton that fetched $44.6 million in 2024.

Gus was unearthed in Harding County, South Dakota, in 2021, with excavation continuing over several years. The fossil was named after Gary "Gus" Liking, the owner of the ranch where it was discovered.

Gus measures 38 feet (about 11.58 meters) long and 12.5 feet (about 3.81 meters) tall, with a skull 54 inches (about 1.37 meters) in diameter, making it one of the largest T. rex specimens ever found.

The fossil comprises 183 bones, representing about 61 percent of the skeleton by bone count and 75 to 80 percent by weight. Restoration alone took five years.

Sotheby's described it as "the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex ever offered for sale."

Academics have voiced concern that a privately owned fossil could no longer serve as a subject of scientific study, potentially limiting dinosaur research. International academic journals are understood to publish only findings based on specimens that are publicly accessible.

Richard Butler, a vertebrate paleontologist and professor at the University of Birmingham, told The Guardian that "the current trend of dinosaur fossils being sold at auction for enormous sums, like rare works of art, is deeply troubling," adding that purchasing dinosaur fossils as status symbols or commodities was equally worrying.

Butler said fossils not held by public museums cannot be studied and therefore have no research value, warning that "prices are increasingly reaching levels that museums cannot afford, and this represents a major loss for science."

Amid such concerns, some buyers have made their fossils publicly available to support research.

Hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin, who purchased Apex, loaned it to the American Museum of Natural History in New York for four years and agreed to fund research and documentation — including 3D scanning — to ensure researchers could access it.