Tyrannosaurus rex named ‘Stan’ sells at auction for £35 million

Man Utd could have bought him twice with the money they paid for Harry Maguire

A fossilised Tyrannosaurus rex named Stan has sold at auction in the United States for $45 million dollars. This equates to around £35 million British pounds. This makes Stan the most expensive dinosaur ever sold. Barney must be fuming. Over the years, this particular Tyrannosaurus rex became renowned for its excellent condition. You'd have to say Stan looks great for a man that is, according to archaeological data, 67 million years old. Reports claim Stan can even remember seeing The Rolling Stones live as a child. The dinosaur was bought anonymously at an auction held by the world famous Christie's in New York. The selling price of $45 million completely dwarfed the initial sales estimate, between $6 and $8 million. [caption id="attachment_252394" align="alignnone" width="2048"] Photo: Getty Images[/caption] Stan is the only Tyrannosaurus rex not stored or owned by a museum. Before his sale, he was being held at the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research in South Dakota, USA. Experts believe he was sold for such a high price due to his age and the fact his skeleton remains mostly intact. Stan's fossilised remains were discovered by another Stan, palaeontologist Stan Sacrison, who dug the big guy up in South Dakota's Cretaceous Badlands in 1987. He has 188 bones and teeth that are still intact. The dinosaur that is, not the palaeontologist. His sale completely eclipses the previous most expensive Tyrannosaurus rex - a female dinosaur named Sue that sold for just over $8 million back in 1997. This proves it's not just football transfer fees that have gone through the roof over the course of the last 20 years. It is still unknown who exactly purchased Stan, but he is likely to have gone to a good home and not just become a rich person's plaything. Before he was put up for auction, experts urged auction house Christie's to ensure bidders only came from "institutions committed to curating specimens for the public good and in perpetuity, or those bidding on behalf of such institutions."