6. T. rex Skeletons

The Economics of Everyday Things

Freakonomics Network

Business

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 19 January 2026

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

How do they emerge from the Upper Cretaceous period to end up in natural-history museums and private collections? Zachary Crockett digs for answers. This episode was originally published on June 18th, 2023.

Transcript

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0:00.0	In October of 2020, there was a hotly anticipated auction at Christie's in New York City.
0:10.0	It included paintings from some of history's most venerated artists, Picasso, Rothko, Sazon.
0:17.3	But the lot that fetched the highest price was not a painting.
0:21.6	Lot number 59.
0:23.1	Really?
0:24.5	27.
0:24.7	Yes, really.
0:25.5	Sorry, 271, please.
0:27.1	We're all waiting with bated breath.
0:28.9	$27,000.
0:32.1	$27.5, please.
0:33.5	We've come this far.
0:34.5	Okay, $27,500,000.
0:38.0	Fair warning.
0:39.2	I am happy to sell this and sold.
0:42.5	Thank you very much.
0:44.2	The object on the block?
0:46.3	A Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton named Stan.
0:50.1	With fees, it went for just under $32 million.
0:56.8	More than five times its minimum estimated sale price.
0:58.3	For the man who helped discover Stan, it was validation of a job well done.
1:07.7	Stan was 25,000 person hours.
	...

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