Stan the T. rex shatters record as his skeleton goes for highest amount at auction
.jpg "A male Tyrannosaursus rex. From the Hell Creek Formation. Late Cretaceous (circa 67 million years ago). Approx. 190 bones surviving and mounted on custom frame with additional cast elements. Sold for $31,847,500 in the 20th Century Evening Sale on Oct. 6 at Christie’s in New York.")
A 67-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton was sold for $31.8 million on Tuesday at the Christie’s 20th Century Evening Sale auction — a price nearly four times its high estimate of $8 million.
Named Stan, after its discoverer Stan Sacrison, the dinosaur is one of the most complete T. rex skeletons ever found with 188 bones. It once weighed between seven and eight tons — twice as heavy as the average modern African elephant — when it roamed a semi-tropical island in what spans today’s North and South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana.
The sale quashed auction records, even when sold alongside works by American painter Mark Rothko and Pablo Picasso, which received the second- and third- highest prices of the night, respectively, according to the auction company.
About 280,000 people from all over the world tuned into the virtual auction through their website and social media channels, the company said. The buyer, who has not been identified, offered the winning bid of $31,847,500.
Stan’s sale was “a once in a generation chance,” James Hyslop, head of Christie’s Science & Natural History department, said in a company article. “There simply aren’t T. rexes like this coming to market. It’s an incredibly rare event when a great one is found. It sits very naturally against a Picasso, a Jeff Koons or an Andy Warhol.”
The last time a dinosaur skeleton was auctioned was in 1997 when Sue the T. rex sold for $8.36 million, according to the New York Times. Today, that price would stand at $13.5 million because of inflation rates, the outlet reported.
Discovered in 1987 lodged within Hell Creek Formation, Stan stood 13 feet tall and almost 40 feet long with his 58 teeth, “the longest of which measures 11.5 inches,” the company said. He also had powerful thigh muscles that gave him the ability to run between 10 and 15 mph.
His teeth had serrated edges that allowed him to slice through flesh and bone. Researchers say Stan could eat up to 500 pounds of meat in just one bite. A 2005 study found that the dinosaur’s bite was strong enough to crush a car, the company reported.
Puncture wounds in Stan’s jaw suggest he battled predator’s like himself. He lived during the late Cretaceous period that ended about 65 million years ago and is associated with the mass extinction of dinosaurs.
