Stegosaurus skeleton nicknamed Apex sells for record $44.6m

Sotheby’s sells fossil to anonymous American bidder, smashing prior auction record of $31.8m for tyrannosaurus rex Stan.

The largest stegosaurus skeleton ever found has been sold for a record-breaking $44.6m at a New York auction.

Nicknamed Apex, the 150-million-year-old skeleton – standing 11 feet (3.3 metres) tall and 27 feet (8.2 metres) long – was sold on Wednesday to an anonymous American buyer, said Sotheby’s.

The staggering price far exceeded the auction house’s presale estimate of $4-6m, smashing a prior auction record of $31.8m set by tyrannosaurus rex, called Stan, in 2020.

Dinosaur fossil sales are controversial among scientists who feel the specimens belong in museums or research centres that cannot afford huge auction prices.

Sotheby’s said the buyer, who beat six other bidders, intended to look into loaning Apex to an institution in the United States.