Stegosaurus Fossil Sells for Nearly $45 Million, Setting Record for Dinosaur Auction

The nearly complete fossilized remains of a stegosaurus sold for $44.6 million at auction Wednesday, Sotheby’s said. The buyer was not disclosed.

The fossil, nicknamed “Apex,” is considered one of the most complete ever discovered, according to the auction house.

The price exceeded the prior estimate of $4 million to $6 million and a previous auction record for dinosaur fossils: $31.8 million for the remains of a Tyrannosaurus rex nicknamed Stan, sold in 2020.

Apex “has now taken its place in history, some 150 million years after it roamed the planet,” said Cassandra Hatton, who heads Sotheby’s scientific business.

Dinosaur fossil sales have caused frustration among academic paleontologists who say the specimens should be displayed in museums or research centers that cannot afford exorbitant auction prices.

Sotheby’s said the anonymous buyer was American and intended to consider lending Apex to an institution in the United States. The buyer beat six other bidders.

Stegosaurus was one of the most distinctive dinosaurs in the world, with its spiked plates on its back. Hatton called Apex a “coloring book dinosaur” because of its well-preserved features.

Measuring 11 feet (3.3 meters) tall and 27 feet (8.2 meters) from nose to tail, Apex was a large stegosaurus that lived long enough to show signs of arthritis, Sotheby’s said.

A commercial paleontologist named Jason Cooper discovered the fossil in 2022 on his property near, unsurprisingly, the town of Dinosaur, Colorado. The small community is near Dinosaur National Monument and the Utah border.

© 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.