The Sotheby's auction house has conducted a truly historic sale of unique fossils. The skeleton of the famous Tyrannosaurus Rex named Gus went under the hammer for 50.1 million dollars. This deal set a new absolute world record for such lots. Surprisingly, the bidding itself took only ten tense minutes. Only seven serious buyers took part in the auction. Initially, experts estimated the rare exhibit at between $20 million and $30 million. However, the final price was almost twice the highest level of the forecast. The previous record was held by a stegosaurus named Apex. It was sold at the same auction two years ago for almost $45 million. Then the result was also completely unexpected for all market participants.

The skeleton of the giant predator reaches an impressive 3.8 meters in height and 11.5 meters in total length. Experts count exactly 183 individual bones in its composition. There are also dozens of extremely rare rib fragments that are usually not included in the official technical count at all. The auction house has officially named this exhibit as one of the largest and most complete tyrannosaurus skeletons ever discovered by scientists. Experts simply cannot adequately overestimate the rarity of such a large-scale find. Since the first discovery of the Tyrannosaurus skeleton back in 1902, paleontologists from all over the world have found only 32 such specimens. However, before the appearance of Huss, only two of them turned out to be at least 60 percent complete. This unique fossil dates back to the Late Cretaceous period, approximately 67 million years ago.

The dinosaur is named after the late cattle rancher Gary Gus Licking. He owned land in Harding County, South Dakota. It was on this territory that a unique historical find was made. The Hell Creek formation in South Dakota has long been considered one of the richest sources of dinosaur fossils in the world. Thomas Heitkamp and his professional team conducted the excavations here. As a result of their painstaking work, one of the most valuable paleontological exhibits in the history of mankind was born. This sale highlights the great interest of collectors in the ancient history of our planet. Investments in such unique artifacts continue to break all existing financial records.