32 million Australian dollars Tyrannosaurus Rex The skeleton sold at Christie’s in 2020 will become the centerpiece of a new museum in Abu Dhabi due for completion in 2025.
Nicknamed “Stan,” the 67 million-year-old skeleton set a record price for a fossil when an anonymous presenter bought it over the phone with a specialist at Christie’s London for a hammer price of $27.5 million. With a premium, his final price rose to $32 million, making it more expensive than many works by contemporary artists heading to auction. The sale coincided with an increase in the smuggling of ancient fossils and with it concerns from scientists about increased demand among private buyers looking for natural trophies.
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The sale of “Stan” surpassed the previous record for a dinosaur fossil, which was minted in 1997 with the sale of “Sue” for $8.4 million to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. At the time of Stan’s sale, the fate of the precious fossil was shrouded in mystery. It was not clear whether it went to a private buyer or an institution. Some scholars were concerned that the widely studied tool would not become available to researchers if it went to a private collector.
Stan was only made available for sale after a judge ordered its sale in 2018 to resolve a legal dispute between two owners of the North Dakota exploration company. Next, private collectors with ties to natural history museums in the United States considered Christie’s as potential buyers.
The fossil was exported from New York to the United Arab Emirates in May 2021, according to US Trade Reports reviewed by National Geographic. The Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism said in a statement on Wednesday that “Stan” will be held at the Abu Dhabi Natural History Museum, a new 377,000 square feet institution being built on Saadiyat Island. The museum’s collection also includes a 7-billion-year-old meteorite that was recovered in Australia.
The museum, which does not yet have a name, will join a network of institutions located in the Saadiyat Cultural District, including the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the upcoming Zayed National Museum and the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.. Development is part of local government A strategy to expand the cultural sector in the city. His Excellency Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of the Department of Culture and Tourism in Abu Dhabi, said in a statement that the agency’s goal is to “make Abu Dhabi A place for research, collaboration, and discovery.”
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