T. rex skeleton goes up for auction in Asia and could fetch up to $25 MILLION

SUE: THE T. REX THAT STARTED IT ALL

The market for dinosaur bones heated up after a T. rex nicknamed Sue sold at auction for $8.4 million in 1997. It was the first ever dinosaur to be showcased at Sotheby’s. 

Although Sue was purchased by the Chicago-based Field Museum, the hefty price tag opened the floodgates for auction and was enough to encourage the public to search for fossilized remains and sell them for top dollar amounts.

Sue was found on August 12, 1990 on the Cheyenne River Sioux reservation in South Dakota that was owned by Maurice Williams. 

However, it was discovered by paleontologist Susan Hendrickson, the scientist for whom the specimen is named, and paleontologist Peter Larson.

Larson paid Williams $5,000 to take the T. rex, but Larson began to receive sizable offers for the T.rex shortly after it was pulled from the ground. After hearing this, Williams said he gave the scientists permission to search the property, but not take anything they found.

Federal agents seized Sue in 1992 on the grounds that government permission had not been granted for the removal of the fossil from federal lands and a year later, Sue was given to Williams who brought it to auction.

Sue was put up for sale in Sotheby’s art auction in 1997 and nine bidders went head-to-head for the dinosaur. And after eight minutes, it was Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History that won.

BIG JOHN: THE MOST EXPENSIVE TRICERATOPS EVER SOLD

Discovered by Walter Stein in 2014 when he was exploring a ranch in Perkins County, South Dakota, this specimen was sent to an auction house in France where it was bought for a whopping $7.7 million to an anonymous private collector from the U.S. 

The massive skeleton is 60 percent complete. Its skull is 75 percent intact. 

Big John is one of more than 100 known triceratops fossils, which is one of the most commonly found in North America. This specimen was also found to have a wound on its frill, the area around the neck, that was likely made by a rival dinosaur’s horn.

Before the auction, Big John was taken to Italy, where study co-researcher Flavio Bacchia, of the fossil restoration company Zoic, prepared the specimen. 

Big John’s fate remains unknown.

Big John was found by Walter Stein in 2014 while he was exploring a ranch in Perkins County, South Dakota. This specimen was also sent to an auction house in France where it was bought for a whopping $7.7 million to an anonymous private collector from the US. No one knows where Big John is to this day

STAN: A RECORD-BREAKING $31.8MILLION SALE  – BEFORE REAPPEARING IN THE U.A.E 

Stan, a 70 percent complete skeleton of a T. rex, was sold for $31.8 million in a line of artwork in November 2020. 

Stan was discovered in South Dakota in 1987 and named after the amateur paleontologist who came across the remains, Stan Sacrison.

The remains were initially thought to be of a triceratops, but a further analysis in 1992 showed its true identity as a T.rex.

The skeleton includes 188 bones, making it 70 percent complete. However, its skull is the most complete and preserved found to date. 

The skeleton vanished from the public eye when an anonymous bidder paid the record-breaking amount. 

Nearly two years later it was found that Stan traveled from New York to Abu Dhabi where it resides at a new natural history museum in the United Arab Emirates.

Stan, another T.rex, was sold for $3.18 million in 2007. One and a half years later it was found that Stan traveled from New York to Abu Dhabi where it resides at a new natural history museum in the United Arab Emirates for all to marvel at its wonders. Stan’s happy ending, however, is not typical of a lot of dinosaur remains discovered in US soil