This $45 Million Stegosaurus Is Now the Most Expensive Fossil Ever Sold at Auction

Odd Stegosaurus theories have been plentiful over the years—from the idea it harbored a second brain in a mysterious cavity over its rear end, to the belief its back plates were horizontal rather than vertical.

Here’s one undisputed fact: A near-complete Stegosaurus fossil just sold for a record $44.6 million at auction.

According to NBC News, the 150-million-year-old skeleton measures 11 feet tall by 27 feet wide (nose to tail) and was first excavated near the town of Dinosaur in Moffat County, Colorado, in 2022. The area is famous for harboring specimens thanks to a concentration of sedimentary rock from the Jurassic period.

Paleontologist Jason Cooper discovered the fossil while on a hike on his property; part of the femur was protruding from the rock. The skeleton, nicknamed Apex, was fully unearthed by Cooper and his team in 2023.

Sotheby’s, which handled the auction, notes that the fossil was discovered with no other specimens nearby. For the sake of transparency, Cooper has agreed to allow the buyer to inspect the grounds where it was found and to share a copy of the fossil’s scan data.

Thanks to its impeccable and verified history, Sotheby’s estimated the fossil could fetch up to $6 million. Instead, it crushed the record set by a T. rex skeleton that sold for $31.8 million in 2020.

Apex consists of 254 fossil bone elements out of a possible 319, with 3D-printed filler to complete the skeleton. It shows evidence of arthritis as well as vertebrate fusion, both indications of old age. It compares quite favorably to another Stegosaurus fossil, Sophie, which can be found at the Natural History Museum in London. But Sotheby’s notes that Apex is more than 30 percent larger.

The sale has revived debate over the private sale of fossils, which can often go to collectors rather than the museums and scientific institutions that lack the financial resources to acquire them. But it’s worth noting that Cooper has previously donated fossils from his property to the scientific community, including the Frost Museum of Science in Miami.

Will you ever be able to see Apex up close? It’s possible. The buyer, Citadel founder Ken Griffin, is reportedly weighing the possibility of loaning it out to a U.S. institution for display. The billionaire beat out six other interested parties in a 15-minute bidding war.

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