A nearly 38-foot Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton named "Gus" sold for $50.1 million at Sotheby's in New York on July 14, surpassing its pre-sale estimate and setting a new auction record for a dinosaur fossil.
The mounted skeleton, from the Late Cretaceous period about 67 million years ago, had been expected to sell for $20 million to $30 million. The auction house listed the lot as sold for $50,130,000.
Gus' hammer price was $43 million, not including the buyer's premium, the fee added to the winning bid to determine the final price paid.
Before the sale, the auction record for a dinosaur fossil was held by "Apex," a Stegosaurus skeleton that sold at Sotheby's in 2024 for $44.6 million.
Gus was discovered in the Hell Creek Formation in Harding County, South Dakota, on private ranch land owned by the late Gary "Gus" Licking, for whom the fossil was named.
"Gus is one of the biggest and most complete T. rex specimens ever found," Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby's vice chairman and global head of science and natural history, said ahead of the auction.
The skeleton is approximately 61% complete by bone count, with 183 fossil bone elements and 30 gastralia, or belly ribs. It measures about 38 feet long and stands 12.5 feet tall. The skull is about 54 inches long and about 82% represented, according to Sotheby's.
Hatton said Gus stood out because of "the completeness, the quality, the size, the preservation," as well as the careful work required to excavate and prepare the fossil.
The sale also included copyright connected to the specimen, which Hatton said was unusual for a T. rex offered at auction. She said those rights could give the buyer control over certain reproductions and distinguish Gus from other famous specimens, including Stan, the T. rex that sold for $31.8 million in 2020.
Gus was offered as part of Sotheby's Geek Week natural history sale.
