Sotheby’s announced the upcoming auction of a nearly complete Tyrannosaurus rex fossil, with an estimated sale price ranging from $20 million to $30 million, marking the highest pre-auction estimate ever set for a dinosaur fossil. The 67-million-year-old specimen, nicknamed “Gus” after Gary “Gus” Licking, the South Dakota rancher whose land yielded the discovery, is scheduled to be auctioned in July.

The fossil was unearthed in 2021 on a 6,500-acre cattle ranch in Harding County, South Dakota. Its excavation and preparation were conducted by Theropoda Expeditions, a commercial paleontology company, with the process concluding earlier this year. Thomas Heitkamp, president of Theropoda Expeditions, likened the effort of reconstructing the fossil to assembling a complex puzzle, where the scattered bones had remained separated for 67 million years before being painstakingly pieced back together.

Sotheby’s emphasized the specimen’s significance as one of the most complete T. rex skeletons ever found, highlighting features that offer fresh insights into the species. Cassandra Hatton, the auction house’s vice-chair and global head of science and natural history, noted that the fossil contains unique elements such as healed bite marks and bones with evidence of previous fractures, which may help answer questions not resolved by earlier T. rex discoveries.

The auction house anticipates interest from a diverse group of buyers, particularly among wealthy collectors who frequently acquire fossils as prestigious pieces to be displayed publicly or loaned to museums. Hatton stated that the majority of such buyers prefer to lend their acquisitions for exhibition rather than keep them in private collections. A recent example includes hedge fund manager Ken Griffin’s purchase of a stegosaurus fossil at Sotheby’s in 2024 for $44.6 million, significantly surpassing the original $4 million to $6 million estimate. Griffin’s stegosaurus is currently exhibited at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

Hatton underscored the broader importance of such sales, pointing out that they can help preserve fossils that might otherwise be inaccessible to researchers and the public. By facilitating the discovery and careful conservation of significant specimens like “Gus,” the auction house plays a role in advancing both scientific knowledge and public education about prehistoric life.