A near-complete Stegosaurus skeleton, nicknamed ‘Apex’, sold for a record $44.6 million in an absolute bombshell sale at Sotheby’s New York. The incredible fossil, dated to have lived between 146 and 161 million years ago during the Late Jurassic Period, smashed its initial estimated value of $4 million to $6 million.
Sotheby’s called Apex the “most complete and best-preserved Stegosaurus specimen of its size ever discovered.” It was discovered on private land in Moffat County, Colorado, in May 2022 by commercial paleontologist Jason Cooper. The excavation concluded in 2023. This area is known for a great variety of fossil deposits and features the Dinosaur National Monument.
Standing 11 feet tall and stretching 27 feet from nose to tail, Apex comprises 319 bones, with 254 being original fossils and the rest either 3D printed or sculpted. The skeleton, mounted in an aggressive attack pose on a custom steel armature, shows signs of arthritis, indicating it lived to an advanced age. However, it bears no evidence of combat injuries or post-mortem scavenging.
“Apex lived up to its name today, inspiring bidders globally to become the most valuable fossil ever sold at auction,” said Cassandra Hatton of Sotheby’s, global head of science and popular culture. She underlined how the painstaking process of excavation, preparation, and installation raised a new benchmark for the future of such discoveries.
First, the buyer’s identity was not disclosed; later, The Wall Street Journal reported that the buyer was Kenneth Griffin, billionaire founder and chief executive of Citadel. Griffin said he plans to lend Apex to a museum in the United States, ensuring that “Apex was born in America and is going to stay in America.”
It’s part of a trend of high-profile dinosaur fossil auctions. In 1997, a Tyrannosaurus rex named ‘Sue’ sold for $8.4 million, and in 2020, another T. rex skeleton, ‘Stan,’ fetched $31.8 million. Such sales would raise some eyebrows among scientists about the availability of specimens like these for research and education.
“Apex was born in America and is going to stay in America,” Hatton said. It is enormous and complete, over 30 percent larger than ‘Sophie,’ the previously most intact Stegosaurus specimen housed at the National History Museum in London.
The sale of Apex, against the backdrop of the public and private collectors’ eternal fascination with dinosaur fossils, demonstrates that these ancient relics are equally mesmerizing to both people at large and science. It is to be hoped that such exceptional finds shall ultimately serve scientific research and public education.
In addition to the skeleton, the buyer will also get a copy of the scan data and a full license for the use of its 3D data, hence furthering research and educational collaboration. According to Steve Brusatte, a paleontologist at Scotland’s University of Edinburgh, “If what the auction house is saying is true, then this skeleton really does belong in a museum, where it can be conserved, studied by scientists, and put on display to inspire people from all walks of life.”
The sale of Apex at Sotheby’s sets a new benchmark for fossil auctions and further puts forward the present continuing discourse among private collectors and the scientific community regarding the questions of stewardship concerning these invaluable pieces of natural history.