The impressive Stegosaurus fossil far exceeded its initial sale estimate, breaking records as hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin purchased it for $44.6 million.
“Apex,” a virtually complete fossil of a Stegosaurus dinosaur, was already making headlines as the highly-anticipated piece of Sotheby’s Natural History sale this July 2024. However, the specimen made history as it shattered its pre-sale estimate of $4 million to $6 million, fetching a total of $44.6 million instead. This makes it the most expensive fossil ever sold at auction.
Prior to the auction, Sotheby’s released an 18-minute documentary detailing the exciting discovery of the fossil, as well as why it is so significant in the scientific community. The auction house also released a video showcasing the intense bidding battle that occurred during Apex’s sale. At the end of it, hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin was the one who got to acquire the exquisite specimen, as Mary Whitfill Roeloffs of Forbes reveals.
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An Impeccable Dinosaur
Apex contains 254 fossil bone elements out of an approximate total of 319, and features some 3D-printed and sculpted elements, according to Sotheby’s official lot description. It’s an impressive number, especially considering the odds of finding such a complete specimen.
“So this actual specimen is somewhere between 75 and 85 percent, which is a very, very high number,” explains commercial paleontologist Jason Cooper in the documentary. His team had been the one to excavate the specimen in the Morrison Formation of Moffat County, Colorado. “Generally in our world, 60 percent of an animal is considered a good skeleton. You get over 70 percent, it’s a really good skeleton. You get over 80, it’s premier. It’s the best of the best.”
When an animal dies, its remains are left to the elements and various scavengers. Over time, parts are split and scattered in different places, making it tricky for paleontologists to find so much of an animal in one place. All the more so for a dinosaur that Cooper considers to be an “incredibly rare dinosaur in the first place.”
“This particular specimen is really, really exciting, because it’s enormous,” adds Cassandra Hatton, global head of Science and Popular Culture at Sotheby’s, in the documentary. “It has an incredible level of preservation. We even found skin impressions with this specimen, which is super, super rare. […] The specimen overall is incredibly complete.”
Fossils For All Or For Some?
The scientific community has had its reservations about fossils heading to auction, even before the sale of Apex. There has been a recurring trend of incredible fossil specimens going under the hammer, including the most complete Tyrannosaurus skeleton. It fetched $31.8 million at a Christie’s auction in 2020, previously holding the record for most expensive fossil ever sold.
While both Cooper and Hatter hoped that a scientific institution would purchase the fossil, as Asher Elbein of The New York Times reports, it was ultimately billionaire Griffin who acquired the fossil. It is common occurrence, as most museums or research centers that can’t afford to compete with the large auction prices.
“If what the auction house is saying is true, and what I’m seeing in these photos is genuine, then this skeleton really does belong in a museum,” writes Steve Brusatte, a professor of paleontology and evolution at Scotland’s University of Edinburgh, to CNN in an email. “It is a great shame when a fossil like this, which could educate and rouse the curiosity of so many people, just disappears into the mansion of an oligarch.” Experts like Brusatte and Cary Woodruff, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Frost Museum of Science in Miami, believe that such fossils belong in the public trust, so people may continue to study and view them.
However, Times reports that this may very well happen, as “the buyer intends to look into loaning Apex to an institution in the U.S.” in the foreseeable future.
Photos from the Sotheby’s website.
