T. rex recently went viral in the fashion world after a Polish label re-engineered its DNA to make a leather bag. While that failed to sell at the June auction as bids barely went up to $150,000, a Tyrannosaurus rex specimen has made history yet again.
At a Sotheby’s auction, it became the most expensive dinosaur remains ever sold. Going under the hammer for over $50 million, ‘Gus’ found a new owner after a ten-minute bidding war and seven bidders taking the price beyond the estimated $20 million.
Dating back nearly 67 million years, Gus had 183 elements in its fossil. The 38-foot-long specimen was also touted as one of the most complete dinosaur ever discovered.
Gus breaks Gryphon’s record – skeleton sold for $50.1 million
Gus the T. rex also broke Sotheby’s own record set by billionaire hedge funder Kenneth Griffin, who shelled out a whopping $44.6 million in 2024. Griffin secured a Stegosaurus skeleton nicknamed ‘Apex’ at the auction. Griffin had then loaned it out to the American Natural History Museum for four years. Another such deal which made history was ‘Stan’, a T. rex sold at Christie’s for $31.8 million.
According to the premier auction house, Gus was discovered in South Dakota and is about 61% complete. It is about 12.5 feet tall, which is nearly one-storey tall, with a skull length of 54 inches – one of the largest T. rex fossils ever found.
In fact, the Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton also indicates signs of several injuries through the years. The bones feature some fractured and healed bones near the rib and gastralia, with some bite marks on the skull bones.
“Gus is not only an exceptional find, but a specimen that’s been excavated, documented, prepared and cared for with real excellence,” said Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby’s vice chairman and worldwide head of science and natural history.
“This result has been years in the making,” added Hatton. She remarked that the price paid reflects the time and resources spent on uncovering the specimen, which were excavated over the course of three summers, as per a BBC report. They had to be thawed from the ground from 2021 to 2023, with additional time to piece and confirm the T. rex.
So even if Gus is now worth a million dollars, interested viewers may still be able to view it in a museum.
T. rex and other dinosaur remains continue to fascinate researchers and collectors alike. One of the fastest-growing and most popular among the wealthy, fossils remain one of the most exclusive pieces of evidence of the past.