What changed hands?
Apex, mounted Stegosaurus skeleton. The source’s lot card explicitly displays USD 44,600,000 and the sale date; no present-day world-record claim is made.
A specimen with a name
The Sotheby’s record identifies the mounted Stegosaurus skeleton as Apex and reports a $44.6 million sale on 17 July 2024. The name helps keep the auction record connected to the same specimen when its story continues elsewhere.
Money is only one part of this story
A price is a market event, not a measure of scientific importance. Readers interested in the specimen’s life after the auction can follow the separate museum account. That later display is not presented here as another sale or a new valuation.
Read the number carefully
An auction result captures a particular object, a particular sale and the buyers competing on that occasion. It does not establish the value of every similar object, or what this one would sell for today.
Our selection keeps historical results separate from asking prices and estimates. Where the cited report does not break out fees, we say so rather than inventing a hammer price.
Sale documentation: Historic Bidding Battle for Stegosaurus Fossil Sets New Auction Record at $44.6 Million ↗
What does “source reviewed” mean?
We checked the published report against the amount and object listed here. That does not independently authenticate the object or confirm settlement of the transaction.
