Citadel hedge fund founder Ken Griffin paid US$44.6 million for the largest and most intact stegosaurus skeleton at Sotheby's New York on Wednesday (17 July), making it the most expensive fossil ever sold. The previous high stood at US$31.8 million, set in 2020 by a tyrannosaurus rex dubbed Stan, which will be on display at The Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi in 2025.
Nicknamed Apex, the 8.2-meter-long stegosaurus fossil was originally expected to fetch between US$4 and 6 million, but seven bidders pushed it far over to a hammer price of US$40 million in a 15-minute bidding war.
According to Sotheby's, its new owner intends to explore loaning the specimen to a U.S. institution. "Apex was born in America and is going to stay in America," remarked Griffin after the sale.
American hedge-fund billionaire Ken Griffin
Lot 13 | Apex | A Mounted Stegosaurus Skeleton (Auction record for a fossil)
Late Jurassic (around 161-146 million years ago)
Height: around 3.4 metres
Length: around 8.2 metres
Number of Fossil Bone Elements: 254 (of an approximate total of 319)
Estimate: US$4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Hammer Price: US$40,000,000
Sold: US$44,600,000
Auction House: Sotheby's New York
Sale: Natural History, including Apex the Stegosaurus
Date: 17 July 2024
Now aged 55, Ken Griffin has an estimated net worth of US$37.9 billion, ranking as the world's 41st-richest person on the Forbes list. His investment firm, Citadel, is a hedge fund firm that manages US$59 billion in assets, while another company of his, Citadel Securities, has been one of the largest market makers on Wall Street, responsible for one of every five stock trades in the U.S.
The present purchase is not his first foray into dinosaurs: In 2018, he donated US$16.5 million to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chigaco to support the display of a touchable cast of the biggest dinosaur ever discovered, a long-necked Argentine herbivore known as a titanosaur. Also in the museum's collection is SUE, a tyrannosaurus rex which sold for US$8.36 million in 1997 at Sotheby's.
Stan | Tyrannosaurus rex fossil | Sold: US$31,847,500, Christie's New York, 2020 (Previous auction record for a fossil)
SUE | Tyrannosaurus rex fossil | Sold: US$8,360,000, Sotheby's New York, 1997 (Now in the Field Museum of Natural History in Chigaco)
The American billionaire is no stranger to auctions either. In 2021, he spent US$43.2 million at Sotheby's New York to outbid crypto collective Constitution DAO for the last privately held copy of the U.S. Constitution, for fear that the ragtag group would not be able to "manage the responsibilities necessary to protect" it. After the sale, it was loaned to the Crystal Bridges Museum in Arkansas.
Also a prominent art collector, he reportedly owns an art collection worth close to US$800 million, many works he purchased through big-ticket private deals and intended for "display at museums for the public to enjoy". One of those paintings is Jean-Michel Basquiat's Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump (1982), for which he paid more than US$100 million and loaned to the Art Institute of Chicago.
In 2015, he was said to have purchased two paintings from entertainment tycoon David Geffen for US$500 million: Willem de Kooning's Interchange (1955) for US$300 million and Jackson Pollock's Number 17A (1948) for US$200 million, making it one of the largest private art deals ever. Two years later, he allegedly snapped up Andy Warhol's famous Orange Marilyn from the heirs of media mogul Si Newhouse for US$200 million.
The last privately held copy of the U.S. Constitution went to Ken Griffin for US$43.2 million in 2021
Jean-Michel Basquiat | Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump (1982) | Sold to Ken Griffin for more than US$100 million in 2020 (On loan to the Art Institute of Chicago)
In recent years, it has almost become a trend that dinosaur fossils are put up for auction, with at least one being offered every year since 2016. Such sales, however, have raised serious concerns among paleontologists, who worry the public would be deprived of viewing important fossils and scientists from studying them when they go into the hands of wealthy private collectors.
Now that Ken Griffin aims to loan the stegosaurus fossil to a public institution in the U.S., the present sale would perhaps be deemed a win-win scenario for many, especially since museums and universities typically cannot afford sky-high auction sales.
The stegosaurus is characterized by the distinctive shape and arrangement of dermal armor on the back
Stegosaurus' multi-spiked tail weapon
The stegosaurus is arguably the best-known member of the armored dinosaurs, characterized by the distinctive shape and arrangement of dermal armor on the back, extending from the neck to the tail and terminating into a multi-spiked tail weapon. Fossils belonging to this family are known from Jurassic-Cretaceous localities throughout Eurasia, North America, and Africa.
Apex was discovered in 2022 on privately owned land in Moffat County, Colorado, near the town of Dinosaur, aptly named for its proximity to the Dinosaur National Monument. This region is the richest source of dinosaur fossils in the United States due to its location in the Morrison Formation, a sequence of Upper Jurassic sedimentary rock centered in the states of Colorado and Wyoming.
Found alone, with no other fossils nearby, Apex represents fossils from one stegosaurus. It is virtually complete, with 254 fossil bone elements of an approximate total of 319. Measuring 3.4 meters tall and 8.2 meters long from nose to tail, it is the biggest and most complete stegosaurus fossil ever found, more than 30% larger than Sophie, the previously most intact stegosaurus specimen, located in the National History Museum in London.
Judging from its size and degree of bone development, Apex was a large and robust adult individual, having lived to an advanced age. It shows no signs of combat-related injuries or evidence of post-mortem scavenging.
A bone map illustrating which of Apex's fossil elements are present (in green)
Also remarkable is its well-preserved condition, which exhibits little distortion and retains much of its original shape and surface characteristics.
Starting from the day of its discovery – by commercial paleontologist Jason Cooper – Sotheby's collaborated closely with the owner to document the entire process, from discovery and excavation to restoration, preparation, and mounting, ensuring that the documentation and sale of the specimen are handled with the highest standards and transparency.
It is offered with full rights, and the offering includes full documentation certifying the condition, authenticity, and legality of ownership, as well as detailed 3D scans of the full specimen.