Billionaire investor Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of hedge fund Citadel, has broken auction records by shelling out $44.6 million for a dinosaur skeleton. New York PostMr. Griffin bought the largest and most intact stegosaurus skeleton at Sotheby’s on Wednesday, making it the most valuable fossil ever sold at auction.
Estimated to be 150 million years old, the giant beast nicknamed “Apex” was excavated just outside present-day Dinosaur, Colorado by paleontologist Jason Cooper in May 2022. According to Sotheby’s, the Apex stegosaurus is the largest ever discovered, measuring 11 feet (3.3 meters) tall and 27 feet (8.2 meters) long, with 254 of its estimated 319 bones remarkably preserved, making it nearly complete.
Mr Griffin beat six other participants in a 15-minute auction to secure the skeleton. The skeleton, which had a starting price of about $6 million, sold for $44.6 million, more than 11 times its low estimate, a new record for dinosaur fossils.
Watch the auction video here:
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“‘Apex’ lived up to its name today, inspiring bidders around the world and becoming the most valuable fossil ever sold at auction. This sale was several years in the making and we worked closely with Jason Cooper at every turn, from its discovery at the Dinosaurs of Colorado to its sale in New York,” Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby’s global head of science and popular culture, said in a statement.
According to Forbes, the hedge fund chief is a regular donor to the Republican Party and has a net worth of around $37.8 billion. He now plans to lend it to institutions across the United States instead of keeping it for his personal collection.
The first ever Stegosaurus fossil recently went up for auction at Sotheby’s in New York, fetching a whopping US$44.6 million – the highest amount ever paid for a dinosaur skeleton in history. pic.twitter.com/O7unz0vXSs
— HYPEBEAST (@HYPEBEAST) July 18, 2024
“Apex was born in the USA and will stay in the USA!”, he said after the sale, according to the report. CBS News,
In 2017, he donated $16.5 million to Chicago’s Field Museum for an exhibit featuring the largest Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever discovered.
