An 8-meter-long Stegosaurus becomes the most expensive fossil in the world, dethroning the Tyrannosaurus skeleton Stan...
Defying the saying "what's done is done," an almost complete Stegosaurus skeleton was sold at a Sotheby's auction in New York for a record $44.6 million. Selling for ten times its estimated value of $4 million, Apex has become the most expensive fossil ever sold at auction. According to Sotheby's, the new owner will loan the massive mounted Stegosaurus skeleton to an unnamed institution in the U.S.
The anonymous owner openly stated, "Apex was born in America and will stay in America!" Apex was discovered by commercial paleontologist Jason Cooper in Moffat County, Colorado, two years ago and contains 254 bone elements. According to Sotheby's auction house, the 150-million-year-old fossil is "practically complete and incredibly well-preserved."
This is the first time that an auction house and a paleontologist have collaborated from discovery to sale, documenting everything from excavation to restoration and assembly. The only other such example is the 67-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus skeleton, known as Stan, which was sold at a Christie's auction for $31.8 million. While Stan stood 3.96 meters tall and was 12.19 meters long, Apex measures 3.35 meters in height and 8.23 meters in length.
"This particular specimen is really, really exciting because it's huge," said Cassandra Hatton, Global Head of Science and Popular Culture at Sotheby's auction house, in a YouTube video. She added, "It has an incredible level of preservation. Apex has lived up to its name today, inspiring bidders around the world to become the most valuable fossil ever sold at auction."
She continued, "I am thrilled that such an important specimen has now taken its place in history, some 150 million years after it walked the planet." The rise in the sale of skeletons excites billionaires but not so much paleontologists, who see these specimens as an imperative part of our natural history, not as decorations on a mantelpiece in a mansion. It's not just dinosaur skeletons; in 2008, dinosaur dung was sold at auction in New York for nearly $1,000.
