Record $50.1 Million Paid for T. Rex Skeleton at Sotheby's Auction

By Adrian Cole

A Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, known as 'Gus,' was sold for $50.1 million at a Sotheby's auction in New York on July 14, 2026. This sale set a new record for the highest amount ever paid for a dinosaur fossil at auction, surpassing the pre-sale estimate of $20–30 million.

'Gus' dates back approximately 67 million years and was excavated between 2021 and 2023 from a ranch in Harding County, South Dakota. The skeleton is composed of 183 fossil bone elements and is assessed to be 61% complete by bone count and 75–80% by bone mass, with an exceptionally preserved skull.

The sale of 'Gus' eclipses previous records, including the $44.6 million paid for 'Apex,' a Stegosaurus skeleton, in 2024, and the $31.8 million for 'Stan,' another T. rex, in 2020. The increasing prices reflect a growing interest among billionaires, celebrities, and private investors in acquiring dinosaur skeletons as luxury collectibles.

However, this trend has raised concerns among scientists, who argue that private ownership of such fossils can limit access for academic research. Professor Richard Butler stated that fossils not in recognized museum collections are effectively lost to scientific study.