The largest stegosaurus fossil ever found will be auctioned next month with an estimated value of up to $6 million.
The specimen, known as “Apex,” was unearthed in 2023 near the Morrison Formation in Colorado, close to the town of Dinosaur, according to auction house Sotheby’s.
According to the auction house, part of the armored dinosaur was first discovered on the nearby property of commercial paleontologist Jason Cooper. In total it is 3.5 meters high and 6 meters long and contains 247 fossil bones. The dinosaur is believed to be between 146 million and 161 million years old.
Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby’s senior vice president and global head of science and popular culture, told ABC News that she remembered receiving a call from Cooper about the finding.
“Oh my god, we have something incredible on our hands,” Hatton said of the discovery at the time.
Sotheby’s will auction the example on July 17 with an estimated value of $4 million to $6 million in New York. Sotheby’s sold a 200-pound Tyrannosaurus rex head for $8.3 million in 1997.
As for how Apex got its name, Sotheby’s says it is believed to be the largest and most complete stegosaurus ever discovered.
For nearly a decade, a stegosaurus specimen named Sophie, located in the National History Museum in London, held the title of the largest and most complete stegosaurus ever discovered. Apex is 30% taller than Sophie, based on her 45-inch thigh length, according to Sotheby’s.
“Through the painstaking process of excavation, preparation and installation, ‘Apex’ sets a new standard for all future discoveries of this magnitude, further enhancing the enduring appeal of Stegosaurus and its vaunted status in popular culture,” Hatton said in a press conference . Edition.
But Sotheby’s auction next month could also reignite a long-running debate over whether or not dinosaur fossils should be sold to private collectors.
Paul David Polly, a professor of earth and atmospheric sciences at Indiana University, said auctions often emphasize finding complete dinosaurs rather than studying the surrounding environment, creating an incomplete picture of the specimen.
“[An auction] fetishizes the complete skeletons of dinosaurs based on good, careful scientific research,” says David Polly
Furthermore, fossils collected by private collectors may not be available to the public, which prevents scientists from studying them.
“Because [the fossils] are in a private collection, they cannot contribute to the diversity of things we know about the world,” says Canadian paleontologist Greg Funston.
Regardless, it is legal to sell fossils found on private land in the US. Other countries such as Canada, Brazil and South Africa restrict the sale and export of fossils found in those countries.
David Polly said private landowners will grant access to the person who can pay the most, which is often not the scientists. “People assume fossils have monetary value and scientists who work for nonprofits don’t have money to buy fossils,” he said.
Hatton says there are other issues to consider in the debate over the private sale of fossils. “I think the debate is more about whether dinosaurs should be considered property, and that’s a much broader conversation,” Hatton said.
Spencer G. Lucas, an American paleontologist at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, said commercial paleontology can preserve fossils for science and education.
“That would be my hope [the fossils] would be available for scientific research,” he said.
Ahead of the sale on July 17, Apex will be exhibited at Sotheby’s galleries in New York, the auction house said. The exhibition will be free and open to the public.