76 million-year-old dinosaur skeleton to be auctioned in New York

Associated Press
Tuesday, July 5, 2022 8:50 p.m. | Tuesday, July 5, 2022 8:50 p.m.

A Sotheby’s New York employee demonstrates the size of a Gorgosaurus dinosaur skeleton, the first to be offered at auction in New York.

A Gorgosaurus dinosaur skeleton, the first to be offered at auction, is displayed at Sotheby’s New York, Tuesday, July 5, 2022, in New York.

A Sotheby’s New York employee opens a case containing Virginia’s Official Ratification of the United States Constitution, a defining document of early American government and precursor to the U.S. Bill of Rights, Tuesday, July 5, 2022, in New York. The document will go to auction on July 21, 2022 and is expected to sell for $3-5 millions.

A Gorgosaurus dinosaur skeleton, the first to be offered at auction, is displayed at Sotheby’s New York, Tuesday, July 5, 2022, in New York.

A Gorgosaurus dinosaur skeleton, the first to be offered at auction, is displayed at Sotheby’s New York, Tuesday, July 5, 2022, in New York.

NEW YORK — The fossilized skeleton of a T. rex relative that roamed the earth about 76 million years ago will be auctioned in New York this month, Sotheby’s announced Tuesday.

The Gorgosaurus skeleton will highlight Sotheby’s natural history auction on July 28, the auction house said.

The Gorgosaurus was an apex carnivore that lived in what is now the western United States and Canada during the late Cretaceous Period. It predated its relative the Tyrannosaurus rex by 10 million years.

The specimen being sold was discovered in 2018 in the Judith River Formation near Havre, Montana, Sotheby’s said. It measures nearly 10 feet tall and 22 feet long.

A rare dinosaur skeleton, measuring 10 feet tall and 22 feet long, is up for auction. Sotheby’s expects it to fetch up to $8 million pic.twitter.com/AzgEeShQNX

— Reuters (@Reuters) July 6, 2022

All of the other known Gorgosaurus skeletons are in museum collections, making this one the only specimen available for private ownership, the auction house said.

“In my career, I have had the privilege of handling and selling many exceptional and unique objects, but few have the capacity to inspire wonder and capture imaginations quite like this unbelievable Gorgosaurus skeleton,” Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby’s global head of science and popular culture, said.

Sotheby’s presale estimate for the fossil is $5 million to $8 million.