It’s a record. With a final price of 44.6 million dollars (40.8 million euros), this stegosaurus has become the most expensive fossil ever sold at auction. The skeleton of “Apex”, as it is nicknamed, sold this Wednesday, July 17 in New York by the auction house Sotheby’s, is one of the most complete in the history of archaeology.
The remains of this dinosaur were estimated at “only” 5 million dollars (4.6 million euros), but a fierce battle between seven potential buyers almost increased its value tenfold. Although the winner preferred to remain anonymous, he agreed to lend it to an American institution: “Apex was born in America, it will stay in America!”
At 3.4 metres tall and 8.2 metres long, Apex is 30% larger than the previous record-holder for stegosaurs, Sophie, who resides at the Natural History Museum in London. These two herbivores may have roamed together in the late Jurassic period, slowly but surely, sporting their iconic double row of bony plates and their spiked tails, a sign of tranquillity.
Apex is also exceptional for the completion of its fossil. Archaeologists have reconstructed its skeleton with 254 bones found out of an estimated total of 319. It was unearthed by chance in 2022 on the property of paleontologist Jason Cooper, located near the town of Dinosaur (you couldn’t make it up) in Colorado, United States.
An old specimen with arthritis
The skeleton belongs to a male Stegosaurus, robust and of advanced age, according to the Sotheby’s appraisal. This specimen shows no signs of injuries related to possible fights or the recovery of its body by scavengers. A very good condition that the remains also owes to its preservation in hard sandstone, which protects the bones from deformation. Paleontologists were even able to detect signs of rheumatoid arthritis.
The stunning quality of this fossil explains the craze that led to a record sale. “Apex really lived up to its name (Wednesday), said Cassandra Hatton, director of science and popular culture at Sotheby’s. I am delighted that this stegosaurus can enter history 150 million years after its death.”
The previous record for the sale of a dinosaur was held by the T-Rex “Stan”, sold for 31.8 million dollars (29.1 million euros) by Christie’s in 2020. A race forward that questions several experts, such as Cary Woodruff, one of the paleontologists who took Apex out of the ground. “From a scientific point of view, fossils have no financial value since they are all strictly unique, she tells NPR, the American public radio station. I don’t think they should be allowed to be auctioned off: it continues to drive a wedge between scientific and commercial paleontology.”
Contacted in return by the same source, Cassandra Hatton said she was equally committed to ensuring that fossils that are important for knowledge and the public do not disappear into private collections. “But in our experience, she argues, We find that the vast majority of our customers buy specimens for museums or to donate.”
These considerations seem in any case far from the euphoria that gripped the audience at this Wednesday’s sale: the public applauded for fifteen minutes during the hammer blow awarding the future of Apex. Behind the star stegosaurus, other lots were put up for auction, including meteorites, minerals, gogottes and, for the first time, Paleolithic tools. In total, Sotheby’s raised $45.8 million (€41.9 million) from the sale – another record.
Source: www.slate.fr
