A rare Tyrannosaurus rex fossil believed to be certainly one of the biggest and most complete ever discovered has been sold at auction for greater than $50 million to an anonymous bidder.
Sotheby’s in Latest York said the 67-million-year-old fossil, nicknamed Gus, is now the costliest set of dinosaur bones ever auctioned, selling for $50.1 million, surpassing the nearly $45 million price tag for an almost complete Stegosaurus sold by the identical auction house in 2024.
Before that, the record was for a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton nicknamed Stan, which sold for nearly $32 million in 2020.
Get each day National news
Get each day Canada news delivered to your inbox so you will never miss the day’s top stories.
Gus, a 38-foot-long T. rex, is 63 per cent complete, based on Sotheby’s, with those bones making up 75 to 80 percent of the animal’s total mass.
Standing upright with its tail prolonged and right foot barely raised, Gus is an adult dinosaur specimen measuring about 12 and a half feet (3.8 meters) tall and has been remarkably well preserved, with a jaw filled with teeth, two “well represented” feet and quite a few rarely found bones, including a furcula, or wishbone.
The dinosaur was discovered in 2021 on a cattle ranch in South Dakota, near where a team of paleontologists had just accomplished one other dig. Inside days of searching, a metatarsal was found and a five-year excavation and reconstruction involving greater than 1,000 pieces ensued.
The top of ‘Gus,’ a part of a T. rex skeleton, is pictured during a press preview on the Sotheby’s Breuer constructing in Latest York on July 1, 2026. The 67-million-year-old skeleton was found during an excavation on private land in South Dakota. Comprised of 183 fossil bones, it’s one of the vital complete T. rex fossils ever found.
TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP via Getty Images
It was named after the ranch’s owner, Gary Licking, who died during excavation.
“Gus just isn’t only an exceptional find, but a specimen that’s been excavated, documented, prepared, and cared for with real excellence,” Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby’s vice chair, said after the sale on Tuesday.
“The market responds when great specimens are taken care of in the proper way,” she added.
The auction house said the highest bidder, who participated by phone, stays anonymous and outspent six other prospective buyers during a 10-minute battle, with auctioneer Phyllis Kao coaxing them to “Try a much bigger bite” at one point in the course of the exchange.
The private sale of the fossil has ruffled feathers within the scientific community, who say a specimen of its size and significance ought to be on display in museums and other research institutions in order that it may possibly be “preserved, documented, and accessible for future generations.”
“Our hope is that the brand new owner recognizes the extraordinary scientific and academic value of Gus the T. rex and that they aim to maintain it in the general public trust by immediately donating it to an accredited natural history museum,” Kristi Curry Rogers, the president-elect of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, an advocacy group of scientists, scholars and students, said in a press release to The Associated Press on Tuesday.
“That final result would make sure that this remarkable specimen continues to advance science, reasonably than becoming unavailable for study.”
The piece had been estimated to fetch between $20 and $30 million ahead of the sale.
— with files from the Associated Press
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.