Found by chance in South Dakota, this T. rex sold for $50.1 million

In 2021, a fossil-hunting team on a South Dakota ranch decided, almost on a whim, to spend a couple of extra days exploring a different patch of land after wrapping up a nearby excavation. Within hours they found a metatarsal bone from a dinosaur’s foot. That chance detour led to the discovery of ‘Gus,’ a 67-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton that has now sold for $50.1 million at a Sotheby’s auction in New York, the highest price ever paid for a dinosaur fossil.

What followed the initial find was a five-year excavation, mapping and restoration project, during which nearly 1,000 individual fossil pieces were recovered, catalogued and carefully reassembled by hand. Once restoration was complete, Gus was mounted on a custom-built support frame inside one of the few buildings large enough to hold its size: a local pickleball court.

According to Sotheby’s, Gus measures 38 feet (11.5 metres) long and stands around 12.5 feet (3.8 metres) tall, making it one of the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex specimens ever found. The skeleton is 63 per cent complete, with the preserved bones accounting for an estimated 75 to 80 per cent of the animal’s total mass, and includes an exceptionally preserved skull, two well-preserved feet and a rare furcula, or wishbone.

The fossil is named after Gary Licking, the ranch owner on whose land it was discovered. Gary died before he could see the fully restored dinosaur, though his widow, Dana Licking, stayed closely involved with the project as the excavation team shared milestones with her throughout the process.

Gus’s sale price shattered the previous dinosaur auction record set by the stegosaurus ‘Apex,’ which sold for nearly $45 million in 2024, and the T. rex skeleton ‘Stan,’ which fetched close to $32 million in 2020. Pre-auction estimates had put Gus’s value between $20 million and $30 million, well below the price it ultimately commanded after six bidders pushed the sale through a 10-minute bidding contest.

The buyer’s identity has not been disclosed. Sotheby’s vice chair Cassandra Hatton said the result reflected the specimen’s exceptional quality, noting that ‘the market responds when great specimens are taken care of in the right way.’ Tyrannosaurus rex ruled western North America during the Late Cretaceous period, around 67 million years ago.

Wikimedia Commons/by Eirik Newth