One of the world’s largest Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons is headed to auction with a price tag of up to $30 million, and the 67-million-year-old giant could become the next record-breaking dinosaur fossil auction
Owning one of the world’s largest Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons may soon become a reality. But there’s a huge “what if” factor. The buyer must own and be willing to spend $20 million to $30 million.A giant Tyrannosaurus rex fossil nicknamed “Gus” will be auctioned at Sotheby’s in New York on July 14. At 38 feet (11.6 meters) long and nearly 12.5 feet (3.8 meters) tall, the specimen is one of the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons ever discovered. Sotheby’s set the starting price at $19 million, and the auction house estimated the final sale price could be as high as $30 million.If achieved, it would be one of the highest prices ever paid for a dinosaur fossil at auction.
A giant hidden beneath the pasture
The fossil is named after late South Dakota rancher Gary “Gus” Licking, who spent years searching his 6,500 acres for small fossil fragments. He believed the scattered bones pointed to something larger underground, and he turned out to be right.Excavation began in 2021 when commercial paleontology company Theropoda Expeditions began digging at the Hardin County ranch. This work continues for three consecutive summers until 2023. Licking died about a year after the excavation began, never seeing the dinosaur fully discovered. As researchers complete the reconstruction, his widow, Dana Licking, continues to follow the project.The completed skeleton is composed of 183 fossil bones and is approximately 63% complete based on the number of bones, making it one of the most complete T. rex specimens ever sold to the public.
Years of hard work
Restoring Gus is just the beginning. After excavation, the fossil required years of cleaning, cataloging, identification and assembly before it became a reconstructed dinosaur.The entire project took nearly five years, including three years of excavation and research, followed by two years of preparation for the fossil display.Thomas Heitkamp, chairman of the Theropod Expedition, describes the challenges of reconstructing prehistoric predators.“It really does feel like solving the world’s hardest puzzle, except we have to find all the pieces first,” Heitkamp said.He added: “All these bones were separated for 67 million years and now we can almost magically put them back together again.”This dinosaur roamed North America during the Maastricht era, about 72 million to 66 million years ago.
Why Gus stands out
Gus attracted attention because of its size, condition and level of preservation, according to Sotheby’s.Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby’s global head of science and natural history, said: “The completeness, quality, scale, [and] Preserved” makes Gus stand out as a viable auction item.She also discusses the specialized work involved in recovering dinosaur fossils.“I think what’s really important for people when we talk about dinosaur fossils is that they didn’t come out of the ground entirely,” Hatton told Reuters.He added: “It takes highly specialized, careful, diligent, skilled people to identify what they’re looking at, to be able to differentiate between a piece of rock and a piece of this animal.”The fossil is estimated to fetch $20 million to $30 million, the highest presale estimate ever for a dinosaur skeleton. The record for the most expensive dinosaur at auction still belongs to a Stegosaurus skeleton called Apex, which sold for $44 million at Sotheby’s two years ago.
Dinosaur fossil market continues to grow
There is growing demand for rare dinosaur fossils at auction houses from museums, private collectors and wealthy buyers around the world.“Today’s market for dinosaurs is wider than most people imagine, and it continues to expand,” Hutton, who is also Sotheby’s deputy chairman, told Artnet. “Interest now comes not only from museums and private collectors in the United States, but also from major international museums, foundations and individuals creating their own destinations. What unites them is not a single image but a shared respect and curiosity for the object.”Supporters of commercial fossil sales argue that private funding helps uncover potentially buried specimens.“These sales are really important because they are helping us find fossils that would otherwise be lost to everyone,” Hatton told The Australian Financial Review.
The debate over who should own the past
The growing commercial market for dinosaur fossils has also raised concerns among paleontologists and museum experts.Some researchers believe soaring auction prices have made it difficult for public museums and scientific institutions to acquire important fossils. Others warn that high-value sales could encourage fossil scams or reduce opportunities for scientific research if key specimens disappear into private collections. Whether Gus ultimately becomes a museum centerpiece or joins a private collection will be decided when bidding opens on July 14.
