Ken Griffin, the CEO of Citadel hedge fund, has been revealed as the customer who spent a record-breaking$ 44.6 million on a stegosaurus coal at a new bid, according to a source familiar with the order. The skull, known as Apex, is believed to be 150 million years old and is the largest stegosaurus always discovered, as said by the auction home.
In a 15-minute selling war against six other companies, Griffin won, placing his charge over the phone, and a live audience cheered as the price climbed. After the price, he declared,” Apex was born in America and is going to be in America”, as reported by The Wall Street Journal, which first disclosed Griffin as the consumer.
The hedge fund captain, who is a regular donor to the Democratic party, has an estimated net worth of$ 37.8 billion, according to Forbes. According to the origin who spoke to AFP, he intends to look into borrowing the specimen to a US establishment.
Griffin has a history of working with galleries. He loaned a first-edition version of the US Constitution to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas in 2021 for$ 43.2 million. Also, he contributed$ 16.5 million to support a reptile show at Chicago’s Field Museum in 2018.
The recently acquired skeleton stands an impressive 11 feet ( 3.3 meters ) tall and 27 feet ( 8.2 meters ) long, and is nearly complete, with 254 bones out of an estimated total of 319.
In recent years, dragon bones have gained a lot of attention, and palaeontologists are concerned that galleries are being overbid by private collectors.
In 2020, a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton named” Stan” was sold at auction, setting the previous record for a dinosaur skeleton sale at$ 31.8 million.
The Apex stegosaurus skull is considerably larger than the most perfect specimen of the species ever to be displayed in public. That sample, called” Sophie”, is now on display at London’s Natural History Museum. Apex’s size exceeds Sophie’s by an amazing 30 per share.
