Sotheby’s
“Apex,” an adult stegosaurus skeleton, sold at auction for $44.6 million.
CNN
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a Stegosaurus skeleton It sold for $44.6 million in New York, making it the most expensive fossil ever sold at auction.
The dinosaur fossil was sold to an anonymous buyer on Wednesday after seven bidders applied, according to Sotheby’s, which handled the auction.
The fossil, nicknamed “Apex,” sold for well above its pre-sale estimate of $4 million to $6 million.
Apex was found on private property. Moffat County, ColoradoSotheby’s announced in a press release that commercial paleontologist Jason Cooper will be auctioning the dinosaur fossil in 2022.
Sotheby’s added that the bones had been preserved in hard sandstone to prevent them from becoming distorted.
Sotheby’s
Apex is 11 feet tall and approximately 27 feet long from nose to tail.
11 feet tall and about 27 feet long from nose to tail, The auction house said 254 of the approximately 319 fossil bone elements found suggest Apex was a “large, robust adult individual.”
There is also evidence that the dinosaur may have suffered from arthritis, suggesting it may have lived a long life.
Despite the apparent commercial demand for Apex, some paleontologists argue that the fossil should be put on display in a museum, rather than sold to private bidders.
Steve Brusatte, a professor of paleontology and evolution at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, told CNN in May that Apex is an “important dinosaur fossil,” especially because “there are far fewer good skeletons (of stegosaurus) compared to other well-known dinosaurs like tyrannosaurus and triceratops.”
“It would be a shame to see such a fossil, which could have enriched the knowledge and sparked the curiosity of so many people, disappear into the mansion of an oligarch,” Brusatte said before the auction.
Sotheby’s
According to Sotheby’s, Apex is the most valuable fossil ever sold at auction.
He added: “When dinosaurs are sold on the market, the super-rich can always outbid museums, so if they have the financial means to buy a fossil like this, and it piques their interest, we hope they will donate it to a museum.”
Sotheby’s said Wednesday that whoever bought Apex “intends to consider lending the specimen to a U.S. institution.”
According to a press release, the winning bidder said, “Apex was born in America and intends to remain in America.”
Wednesday’s auction was not the first to offer dinosaur fossils to commercial bidders.
In 1997, Sotheby’s sold the Tyrannosaurus rex “Sue,” the first dinosaur ever sold at auction, for $8.4 million, according to the company.
“Stan” is another Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton. Sold for $31.8 million In 2020.
