[imagesource: Mary Altaffer / AP Photo]

T. rex skeleton, get your T. rex skeleton!

No, a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton isn’t the sort of thing that is hawked on street corners, a la newspapers in the old days, but the odd one does pop up on auction.

Judging by the sales price at the Christie’s auction in New York on Tuesday, competition for the skeletons is hot, because the near-complete T. rex skeleton, named Stan, went for a cool $31,8 million (around R527 million).

That blows the previous record for “most expensive dinosaur” out of the water, which was a title that previously belonged to Sue, a T. rex skeleton bought by the Field Museum in Chicago for $8,4 million (around R140 million) back in 1997.

The identity of the buyer has not been made public. More below from VICE:

Stan, also known as Lot 59, was expected to attract a price comparable to Sue, but the bidding war blew past the $6-8 million guide price within minutes and ended up at $27.5 million, with a few million more tacked on for commission fees and other costs.

James Hyslop, head of Christie’s science & natural history department, called the opportunity to buy Stan “a once-in-a-generation chance” in a statement.

Image: Christie’s

“There simply aren’t T. rexes like this coming to market,” he said. “It’s an incredibly rare event when a great one is found.”

The skeleton measures just over 12 metres in length and stands around four metres tall, with the 188 bones making up around 70% of the full skeleton.

Stan was found at the wonderfully named Hell Creek Formation in South Dakota in 1987, and the skeleton had been on display at the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research in Hill City, South Dakota.

The 67-million-year-old skeleton is so well preserved that casts have ended up in museums around the world.

However, a dispute between the museum shareholders in 2018, who just happen to brothers, led to a court resolution that stated the skeleton should be put up for sale.

It is hoped that the latest buyer will ensure that Stan is still available for public viewing.

[source:vice]