A Chance Encounter Led to One of the Largest T. Rexes Ever Found. Now, It Could Be ‘Lost to Science’
The specimen is one of the largest and most complete T. rex finds, and Sotheby’s expects the sale to reach $30 million.
- On Tuesday, the Tyrannosaurus rex fossil known as 'Gus' will go up for auction at Sotheby's New York City office, with estimates ranging from $20 million to $30 million.
- Discovered in 2021 on private land in Harding County, South Dakota, the specimen was named after ranch owner Gary Licking; Theropoda Expeditions excavated the site, recovering nearly a thousand pieces.
- Sotheby's describes 'Gus' as a robust adult from the late Cretaceous period, about 67 million years ago, while recent sales like 'Apex' for $44.6 million have set new records for dinosaur auctions.
- Paleontologist Scott Persons, curator at the South Carolina State Museum, warns that high prices reflect an "increase in market demand," arguing such sums should endow museum research programs instead.
- Billionaire investor Ken Griffin loaned the 'Apex' fossil to the American Natural History Museum in New York, providing a model for public access that critics argue private auctions increasingly undermine.
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33 Articles
By Jacopo Prisco, CNN Before becoming the name of one of the biggest predators that ever existed—or appearing in the footnotes to an auction catalogue—the late Gary “Gus” Licking, a South Dakota cattle rancher, always suspected his land was hiding something big. The Ranch The post A Huge T. rex found by paleontologists will go to auction and concern the scientific community appeared first on KVIA.
Billionaires Race To Buy $30M T. Rex Fossil for Their Collections; Scientists Fear Losing Access to History
A rare T. rex fossil expected to sell for $30 million (£22 million) or more at Sotheby's this week rattled scientists who argue dinosaur fossils should not end up in private collections, but in museums. The specimen, known as Gus, is one of the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons ever discovered, and researchers fear another record-breaking sale could make priceless prehistoric finds even harder for scientists and the public to access. Fos…
A rare complete T-Rex specimen is expected to fetch a record price at a New York auction house this week. But when billionaires get their hands on important finds, research risks suffering, experts warn.
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