The largest, most intact, late-Jurassic stage stegosaurus skeleton ever recovered was sold at auction for a record $44.6 million on Wednesday, making it the most valuable fossil ever sold to a private buyer.
The 11-foot-high, 27-foot-long fossil was sold to Citadel CEO and hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin in the auction, facilitated by Sotheby's, which called it "the finest for stegosaurus to ever come to market." Named "Apex," the skeleton was excavated by paleontologist Jason Cooper, who found the remains on private land near the town of Dinosaur, CO, appropriately, in 2022.
The exhibition-ready mounted skeleton was described by the auction house as being professionally prepared, accurately articulated anatomically, and "mounted in an aggressive attack pose on a custom steel armature." And with nearly 80 percent of its bones recovered, the specimen is the most complete stegosaurus skeleton ever discovered.
Griffin, who boasts a net worth of $38.3 billion, beat out six other bidders for the prize. He now plans to loan out the skeleton to institutions across the United States instead of keeping it for his own private viewing. "Apex was born in America and is going to stay in America!" he reportedly said following the sale, according to CBS News.
Sharing his newly-acquired skeleton is not Griffin's first dinosaur-related philanthropic endeavor. In 2017, he donated $16.5 to Chicago's Field Museum to fund an exhibit featuring the largest tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever discovered.
"'Apex' lived up to its name today, inspiring bidders globally to become the most valuable fossil ever sold at auction," said Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby's global head of science & popular culture in a statement. "This sale has been years in the making, and at every turn, we have worked closely with Jason Cooper, from the moment of its discovery in Dinosaur, Colorado, to its sale in New York."
While dinosaur skeletons selling at auction is uncommon, it does occasionally happen. In 1997, a tyrannosaurus fossil sold for $8.4 million and another tyrannosaurus skeleton went for $32 million in 2020. Sothebys likewise auctioned off a Gorgosaurus skeleton for over $6 million in 2022.
