A T. rex fossil sold for $31.8 million- should scientific evidence be treated as a luxury asset?

Stan is now displayed in a new museum in Abu Dhabi (opened in 2025), but the broader debate about privately influenced fossil access remains ongoing in modern palaeontology.
Image Credit: Smithsonianmag

I recently discovered the case of Stan, a fossilized T. Rex that was sold for a whopping $31.8 million, and I began to wonder about who really has access to so-called "scientific evidence", and how many researchers will actually get a chance to investigate this significant piece of evidence and make groundbreaking discoveries from it.

In 2020, the Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton known as Stan (Tyrannosaurus rex specimen), one of the most complete, was auctioned off for a record setting $31.8 million at Christie’s in New York City for dinosaur fossils; this auction sparked some debate on the nature of how we access and control our scientific specimens.

Stan was found in 1987 in South Dakota, and has been studied by paleontologists. Due to its great preservation, specifically its skull, it has been used for science on T. rex biology, bite strength and how T. rex grew. For many years Stan has been used as a model fossil for other fossil specimens that are discovered.

Once the sale of Stan occurred, scientists raised the issue of what happens to important fossils when they are sold into the private sector. The issue is not about the legalities of the sales of the fossils but rather access to the fossils. Paleontology relies on the repetition of original specimens to perform studies, therefore if specimens exist in the private sector, researchers may lose the ability to study those specimens and verify their own research results.

A 2025 peer-reviewed study in Palaeontologia Electronica found that many T. rex fossils are now in private or commercial ownership, and that a significant portion are not accessible for scientific study, reducing the available research dataset.

Various media outlets such as National Geographic and Smithsonian Magazine have all published stories addressing the risk of rare and valuable fossils being no longer available for study if sold into the private sector.

This leads to a bigger question. Should fossils that help us understand the history of our planet be treated as luxury items or should they be preserved and shared as scientific resources?

With rising fossil prices Stan serves as the most recent example of the increased tension between the commercial value of a fossil and the use of fossils as shared scientific resources.

References:

Palaeontologia Electronica Link
National Geographic Link
Smithsonian Magazine Link