T-Rex fossil sells for record-breaking $31.8 million

[left-of-center2012]

On Tuesday, the Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton "Stan", starting price at $6 million to $8 million, was sold after a 20-minute bidding war for $31,847,500 at Christie’s New York, marking a new record for a dinosaur fossil. In 1997, an almost complete (90%) Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, also known as "Sue the T.rex", sold for $8.36 million - or nearly $13.5 million if you adjust for inflation - to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. The identity of Stan's buyer has not been made public. By law, such specimens can only be sold if the fossil was discovered on private land, which in this case it was.

The fossil is named after the amateur paleontologist Stan Sacrison, who in 1987, during a field-trip in South Dakota, discovered a bone protruding from a rocky cliff in the 66-million-year-old Hell Creek Formation. Excavated in 1992 and after 30,000 hours of cleaning and assembling the bones, the reconstructed skeleton was owned by the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research, a commercial company specialized in fossil trade.

Only around 50 Tyrannosaurus fossils have been discovered since the species was described in 1902. Stan is the fifth most complete Tyrannosaurus rex fossil discovered to date, including 188 original bones, more than 70% of a complete skeleton.

Standing 13 feet high and 40 feet long, Stan was an adult when he died, maybe of old age. The bones show notable signs of wear and indication that the dinosaur experienced multiple attacks and illnesses throughout his life. Puncture wounds on the back of his skull and rib indicate that he was at one point bitten by another predatory dinosaur. Other bite marks at the base of his skull suggest his neck was once broken and caused the fusion of two vertebrate, resulting in a loss of mobility and pain for the rest of his life.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidbressan/2020/10/07/tyrannosaurus-rex-fossil-sells-for-record-breaking-318-million/?sh=10e826cb2ed7

"Stan" - A Tyrannosaurus rex dinosaur fossil skeleton is displayed in a gallery at Christie’s auction house in New York City.
GETTY IMAGES

[Hassin Bin Sober]

1. Some billionaire probably wants a T-Rex in his foyer or maybe in his grandkid's bedroom wing.

[Polybius]

5. I have to admit, that would be kind of cool

Wonder how they would ship it. Piece by piece maybe.

[Vinca]

2. Now that would be a real statement piece in your million dollar living room. LOL.

That's an amazing fossil. I hope it goes to a good home so the public can appreciate it.

[frogmarch]

3. It makes me sick.

The Field Museum purchased the earlier T rex fossil SUE to keep it from being bought by a private collector. Not wallowing in funds, the museum desperately sought donations from the public to buy SUE, and they succeeded. Now there goes STAN to somebody. Dammit.

The Black Hills Institute of Geological Research is a fossil dealership.

Here's a snip from a Wiki page about SUE:

*In 1992, the FBI and the South Dakota National Guard raided the site where The Black Hills Institute had been cleaning the bones and seized the fossil*

more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sue_(dinosaur)

Dammit.

[XanaDUer2]

6. Makes me sick. Too

these things belong in museums for everyone but, oh well, billionaires.

[dalton99a]

7. +1

[lagomorph777]

4. Poor Stan lived a tough life, but will be remembered for millions of years after his departure.