News - Largest Stegosaurus fossil ever found to be auctioned at Sotheby's

The largest and most complete Stegosaurus fossil ever found is expected to fetch up to $6 million (£4.7 million) when it is sold as the star lot in Sotheby’s “geek week” auction this summer, reports The Guardian. At 11-foot (3.4 meters) tall and more than 20ft long the “virtually complete” fossil, which has been nicknamed “Apex”, is more than 30% larger than “Sophie”, the previously most intact stegosaurus specimen which was on display in London’s Natural History Museum. With an auction estimate of $4 million-$6 million, it may become one of the most valuable dinosaur fossils ever sold at auction. The record is held by Stan, a T rex skeleton auctioned off by Christie’s for $31.8 million in 2020. Apex was discovered by the commercial paleontologist Jason Cooper in the Morrison Formation, in Moffat County, Colorado, near the town of Dinosaur, in May 2022. The Stegosaurus is the best-known member of the armored dinosaurs (Thyreophorans), characterized by the distinctive shape and arrangement of dermal armor on its back, extending from the neck to the tail. The Apex fossil shows “no signs of combat or predation-related injuries; however, evidence of arthritis indicates that it lived to an advanced age,” It also has “an impressive femur length of 45 inches,” the aforesaid auction house said in a statement.