Sotheby’s will auction a 150 million-year-old stegosaurus fossil : NPR

During the Jurassic Period, giant quadrupeds with kite-shaped backs roamed the Earth, and now, some 150 million years later, one of their skeletons is going up for auction.

Sotheby’s will hold a live auction on Wednesday. A stegosaurus fossil known as “Apex”. The auction house expects the specimen to sell for between $4 million and $6 million, making it one of the most expensive fossils ever sold.

Standing 11 feet tall and 27 feet long, Apex is also believed to be one of the most complete skeletal structures of its kind. Paleontologist Cary Woodruff was one of the scientists examining the specimen at the Colorado dig site where it was discovered.

NPR’s Andrew Mambo spoke with Woodruff, who is also a curator at the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science in Miami.

The “squamosals,” or bony plates, of a 150-million-year-old stegosaurus fossil have reappeared at Sotheby’s in New York.

Charlie Triboreaux/AFP via Getty Images

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This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Cary Woodruff: The first time I saw this specimen, I was with the guy who collected it at a quarry in Colorado. This rock was incredibly hard. Jurassic Parkbut it wasn’t like a nicely arranged skeleton, like, you know, a whole lot of it, but I remember at least staring at it. Here’s part of a stegosaurus. And it’s really magical to see this, like, the ugly duckling, with any fossil, and it’s magical to see the process of preparation to the end result with any fossil. For a scientist, that’s always very special.

Andrew Mambo: Sotheby’s will auction the stegosaurus fossil on July 17. The auction house estimates it will fetch between $4 million and $6 million. How do you put a monetary value on something like a dinosaur fossil?

Woodruff: Speaking as a scientist, fossils have no monetary value. As you know, these numbers are largely arbitrary. That is, every fossil is literally unique. And I don’t just say this as a dreamy scientist: no two animals are exactly the same. I don’t think fossils should be allowed to be auctioned. And these auctions continue to further widen the gap between academic and commercial paleontology.

Mambo: I’ve read that some people donate or own replicas without having the fossils themselves. Can you talk a bit about that? Is that a viable approach?

Woodruff: I think replicas are the best way to go – I mean, how many of you have copies of paintings in your home or somewhere? And if some wealthy person is really keen to buy this dinosaur that’s up for auction, really keen to get this specimen and see it become a scientific success, and in this example, to donate it to a museum, we’ll give you a cast to hang in your living room, so you can literally put it on display and brag to all your friends and say, “Go to the museum and see the real thing. I got to put that on display in the museum.”

The skull of a Stegosaurus specimen is on display at Sotheby’s.

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NPR reached out to Cassandra Hutton, senior vice president and global head of science and pop culture at Sotheby’s, to respond to the criticism of the fossil specimen auction.

“There is a common concern that scientifically important fossils will end up in private collections, but in our experience this has not yet happened,” Hutton said. “We find that most of our customers are either purchasing or donating specimens for the museum.”