How T. Rex Became a Multi-Million Dollar Dinosaur

Two years ago, we found out that a Stegosaurus skeleton was worth $45 million when hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffn bought Apex for $44.6 million. Surpassing T. rex Stan’s $31.8 million price, the fossils market became hot.

Now it’s hotter.

Multi-Million Dollar Dinosaurs

At 12 1/2 feet tall and 38 feet long, Gus is a Tyrannosaurus rex. Found in South Dakota, some of Gus’s bones are authentic. However, because they were incomplete, parts of his skeleton had to be reconstructed. Still, after a bidding war, he sold for $50.1 million.

This was Gus:

Fossil Dealers

An antiquities dealer explained how fossil sales were revolutionized by gob smacking prices. Informal for a long time, with little need to prove where or when the bones were found, now it is moving closer to art markets. As a result, the owners of a fossil have to prove where it came from. Ideally they have a video of the dig and ownership proof. They have to demonstrate how much is real and which bones came from a 3D printer. Similar to paintings, dealers want to know authenticity, provenance, the condition of the specimen.

Because of dinosaurs’ newfound value, we have many more dinosaur hunters. At a dig, finding nothing at first, people used to abandon the search. No more. They know that somewhere there is an affluent tech bro that might be interested. With price and prestige rising, so too has the number of dinosaur hunters.

As for future discoveries, in a young market, it’s tough to place a price tag on newfound skeletons. You need a history of transactions that won’t exist for a while. Looking back, we would see that the Abu Dhabi Natural History Museum bought Stan (T. rex) at a Christie’s auction for $31 million. Before that though, Sue (T. rex) went for $4 million and a Triceratops named Big John went for $7.7 million. But then there was Apex, a stegosaurus that fetched 44.6 million.

Our Bottom Line: Veblen Goods

In his Theory of the Leisure Class (1899), Thorstein Veblen presumes our need to shout status through conspicuous consumption. His rationale might explain (at least partially)  eye-popping fossil prices. By spending millions on dinosaur bones, the ultra-rich upper class signals its power. It is even too expensive for aspirational shoppers to display traditional conspicuous consumption behavior.

Thorstein Veblen was rather eccentric. I was delighted to have read that his let his dirty dishes accumulate until none remained and then, after spraying them with a hose, started all over again.

This is Veblen:

My sources and more: Hearing about Gus, we returned to our Apex post. But if you want to learn more about antiquities markets, I recommend this always interesting Odd Lots podcast.