NEW YORK, NY.- This summer, Sotheby’s will offer “Gus,” one of the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex specimens ever discovered, and the best specimen in private hands. Estimated at $20–30 million, the highest estimate ever placed on a dinosaur, this extraordinary fossil, excavated over field seasons in 2021, 2022, and 2023 will be the star highlight of Sotheby’s live Natural History Auction on 14th July.
T. rex lived during the Late Cretaceous, in the Maastrichtian age, a time marked by warm climates, high sea levels, and rich coastal floodplains that sup-ported an extraordinary diversity of life across what is now western North America. These environments, from river systems to open woodlands, created the ecological conditions in which large herbivores such as Triceratops and Edmontosaurus flourished, and in turn sustained apex predators like T. rex.
Today, T. rex reigns as the world’s most recognized dino-saur – a creature so embedded in popular conscious-ness, from blockbuster movies to children’s coloring books, that its silhouette is known worldwide. It is distin-guished by an immense skull, deep-rooted, long teeth, and an exceptionally powerful bite, alongside a highly developed sense of smell and forward-facing vision. Its massive hindlimbs and muscular tail suggest a predator built for bursts of speed and force. “Gus” would have sat right at the top of the ecosystem, using its strength, sharp senses, and adaptability to become one of the most powerful predators the world has ever seen.
“Gus” will be offered on 14th July during the Natural History auction, marking the latest chapter in Sotheby’s industry-leading Natural History sales. The series began in 1997 with the groundbreaking auction of Sue the T. rex, the first dinosaur ever sold at auction, now a cen-terpiece of the Field Museum in Chicago. It culminated in 2024 with the historic sale of Apex, which achieved $45 million and set a world record for any dinosaur or fossil at auction, and in 2025 with the sale of the juve-nile Ceratosaurus at $30.5 million, the third highest price ever achieved for a dinosaur at auction. Apex is now on long-term loan to the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
Ahead of the sale, “Gus” will be installed at Sotheby’s galleries in New York at the Breuer, alongside other highlights from Sotheby’s Geek Week sales includ-ing the History of Science & Technology and Space Exploration. The exhibition, opening on 1st July, is free and open to the public.
The fossil was discovered by Thomas Heitkamp and his team on land owned by the late Gary “Gus” Licking, a cattle rancher in Harding County, South Dakota. Licking had always had a deep interest and connection to the history of his land, and after years of finding teeth and small bone fragments on the ranch, realized the potential of there being something of true scientific importance just below the surface.
Recognizing the need to bring in professionals, Licking struck up a partnership with Heitkamp and his team who began the arduous work of fossil hunting on the ranch. Intuitively connected to his land, Gary pointed out a sug-gested area for Thomas and team to search on the 6500-acre parcel and turned out to be spot on; “Gus” was found right in the area Gary had pointed out. Sadly, Gary passed away only one year into the excavation, never to see this magnificent discovery brought to light. “Gus” has been named in his honor.
Heitkamp and his team spent 3 grueling summers excavating “Gus”, followed by another 3 years of lab work, care-fully extracting the fossil elements from their rocky matrix, before preparing and cleaning them. They then pains-takingly catalogued and identified each fossil element, before mounting them to the highest scientific standards.
“Gus” is importantly a single specimen, offered with full rights; with an incredible 183 fossil bone elements, it is approximately 63% complete by bone count, with these bones representing 75–80% of the bone mass of the animal, placing it firmly among the most complete T. rexes ever found. “Gus” remarkably has an exceptionally preserved skull, with approximately 82% of the bones represented, including all six dentitions. The specimen also boasts a rare set of humeri; a rare furcula (wish-bone); two very well represented feet (only one other specimen is known to have two well represented feet); a completely represented pelvis; and a well represented axial skeleton including cervical, dorsal, sacral, and caudal vertebrae, and much more. With a body length of approximately 38 feet, a skull length of 54 inches, a femur length of 50.39 inches (larger than that of Stan), and rising to 12 ½ feet tall, Gus is cemented as one of the largest T. rex ever found.
“Gus” is also a scientifically significant specimen, with pathologies on skull, vertebra, and appendicular skele-ton. Most noticeable pathologies include injuries occur-ring during the life of the individual, with fractured and healed bones discernable in several ribs and gastralia. There are also a number of clear bite marks to several skull bones including the right dentary, as well as to sev-eral post cranial elements, possibly from scavenging.
The first discovery of Tyrannosaurus rex was made by paleontologist Barnum Brown (aka “Mr. Bones”) in 1902 while digging in the Hell Creek Formation of southeastern Montana. In the intervening 122 years, only 32 or so T rex have been discovered, many represented by only a single bone. Only two have been confirmed to be more than 60% complete; “Sue” (FMNH PR 2081), now housed at the Chicago Field Museum, and “Stan” (BHI 3033) housed at the newly opened Natural History Museum in Abu Dhabi.
