Nov. 8 (UPI) — Sotheby’s will auction off one of the largest, most complete, Tyrannosaurs Rex skulls ever discovered.
“Named ‘Maximus’ a title conferred upon the greatest military commanders in Ancient Rome, honoring its reputation as a hunter and fighter, the incredible skull was discovered and excavated on private land in Harding County, South Dakota, in the Hell Creek Formation,” reads a statement released by Sotheby’s on Tuesday.
In July, Sotheby’s auctioned off a Gorgosaurus skeleton for $6.1 million, a move which angered some paleontologists, who are concerned about the commercialization of significant fossils.
“I’m totally disgusted, distressed an disappointed because of the far-reaching damage the loss of these specimens will have for science,” Thomas Carr, a vertebrate paleontologist at Carthage College told the New York Times in July.
The Tyrannosaurs Rex skull will be auctioned on Dec. 9 and is expected to fetch between $15 and $20 million, meaning it will potentially be the most valuable fossil ever to go up for auction.
