Want to own a real T. rex? It could cost you $30 million

Want to own a real T. Rex? It could cost you $30 million

A massive Tyrannosaurus rex specimen known as Gus is heading to the auction block at Sotheby’s New York City office on July 14. The dinosaur is among the largest and most complete T. Rex skeletons ever discovered, with an estimated value between $20 million and $30 million—the highest estimate ever fixed to a dinosaur fossil.

The skeleton will lead the auction house’s Natural History Auction. According to Sotheby’s online bidding registry, the starting bid is set at $19 million.

Discovery on the Ranch

The fossil was discovered in 2021 in Harding County, South Dakota, on a 6,500-acre property owned by the late cattle rancher Gary Gus Licking. For years, Licking had found small bone and teeth fragments on his land, leading him to believe something of major scientific value was buried beneath the soil.

Licking recruited Thomas Heitkamp and the team from Theropoda Expeditions to hunt for the fossils. The excavation process spanned three summers between 2021 and 2023. Heitkamp described the process as tackling the world’s hardest puzzle, noting that the team sometimes worked for weeks without finding any pieces.

Licking died one year into the excavation and never saw the skeleton fully assembled. The specimen was named in his honor. His widow, Dana Licking, stated that it would be exciting to see others enjoy the discovery.

Specimen Details

Gus dates back to the late Cretaceous period, approximately 67 million years ago. Mounted, the skeleton stands 12.5 feet tall and stretches 38 feet in length. The skull alone measures over four feet long.

Sotheby’s describes the specimen as a very large, robust, adult individual. The skeleton is approximately 63 percent complete by bone count, consisting of 183 fossil bone elements. These represent 75–80 percent of the animal's bone mass. Notable features include:

• A well-preserved skull
• A completely represented pelvis
• A furcula (wishbone)
• Two well-represented feet
• A rare set of humeri

Some of the bones also display bite marks and healed fractures.

The reconstruction process took nearly five years in total, combining the three years of excavation with two years of lab work to clean, identify, and catalog the bones. The assembly was completed earlier this year.

A Red-Hot Market

The sale of Gus follows a trend of soaring prices for prehistoric remains. Sotheby's first dinosaur auction occurred in 1997 with a T. Rex named Sue, which sold for $8.36 million (reported as $8.4 million by other sources) to a group of companies for the Field Museum in Chicago. Other notable sales include:

The sale of Apex remains the world record for any dinosaur fossil. Other recent activity includes the sale of a Triceratops by Phillips for $5.4 million in November 2025 and another Triceratops brokered by Joopiter for $5.55 million in March 2026.

Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby’s vice-chairman and worldwide head of science and natural history, said the market is widening to include international museums, foundations, and individuals. She argued that these sales are super important because they are helping us find fossils that would otherwise be lost to everyone.

Scientific and Ethical Debate

The commercialization of fossils has drawn criticism from the scientific community. Paleontologist Scott Persons, curator of natural history at the South Carolina State Museum, said the ridiculous prices reflect an increase in market demand. Persons suggested that the sums paid at auction could instead endow research programs at public museums, paying for fieldwork and the discovery of new species.

Other critics argue that private collections keep fossils lost to science and incentivize the search for marketable specimens over scientific study. Some countries, including Canada, Brazil, and South Africa, have responded by placing heavy restrictions on significant fossils.

Gus will be on view at the Breuer building from July 1 to July 14 before the auction begins.