Dinosaur Skeleton Sells at Sotheby’s for $44.6 M., Becoming Most Expensive Fossil Ever Auctioned

A 27-foot-long dinosaur skeleton sold at Sotheby’s New York on Wednesday for $44.6 million, becoming the most expensive fossil ever auctioned, according to the house.

The skeleton, nicknamed “Apex,” was given a high estimate of $7.4 million—about a sixth of what it ended up achieving. A buyer for the skeleton was not immediately named by Sotheby’s, as is typical for high-profile sales held at major auction houses.

Per Sotheby’s, its new owner will loan the work to an unspecified US institution. Although Sotheby’s announcement of the sale referred to the buyer as being “anonymous,” the release did quote that unnamed individual as saying, “Apex was born in America and is going to stay in America!”

Apex was discovered by commercial paleontologist Jason Cooper, who found the skeleton on privately owned land in Moffat County, Colorado, in 2022. Its 254 bone elements belonged to a Stegosaurus dinosaur.

The market for dinosaur fossils like this one appears to be hot. In 2020, the record for a dinosaur at auction was re-set by the sale of a $31.8 million fossil at Christie’s. That result demolished the prior benchmark of $8.4 million, set in 1997 by the sale of Sue, the first dinosaur ever brought to auction.

Some paleontologists have raised concerns about these high-profile auctions, saying that wealthy people may view these fossils as status symbols, not objects of historical importance.