Politics
T. rex skeleton 'Gus' goes to auction at Sotheby's, sparking debate over fossil access
July 13, 2026 at 06:08 PM · Updated 95d ago
Coverage
6 reports · 1 in Arabic, 5 in English · over 65 hours
Sotheby's has put a 61%-complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton up for auction with a starting price of $19 million, drawing criticism from scientists.
- The 11-meter skeleton, named Gus after the South Dakota landowner where it was discovered, carries a pre-sale valuation of $30 million.
- Excavation of the fossil took three years, followed by another three years of documentation and reconstruction in a laboratory.
- Sotheby's global head of natural history Cassandra Hatton said Gus is one of the largest and most complete T. rex specimens ever found.
- Natural History Museum researcher Susannah Maidment said the rising prices have priced museums out and that fossils in private collections cannot be studied scientifically.





