On October 4 one of the mostfamous fossils in the worldwent on the auction block.

The sale, at Sotheby’s in New York City,opened with a bid of $500,000; just overnine minutes later, Sue—the largest andmost complete Tyrannosaurus rex skel-eton ever found—sold for $7.6 million(including Sotheby’s commission, thetotal price topped $8.36 million). “Shewill spend her next birthday in her newhome on the shores of Lake Michiganin Chicago, at the Field Museum,” an-nounced Richard Gray, president of theArt Dealers Association of America,who represented the museum and out-bid eight others. Although Sue’s destinyis settled, the issues she has raised lin-ger. To many academic paleontologists,the sale highlights the troubling com-mercial trade in fossils.

The T. rex was discovered in 1990 on

a South Dakota ranch by Susan Hen-drickson, a collector working with theBlack Hills Institute of Geological Re-search in Hill City, a commercial fossiloutfit. The institute paid the landowner,Maurice Williams, $5,000 for the rightto take the fossil, a deal determined bythe courts in 1994 to be illegal. BecauseWilliams’s land is held in trust by theU.S. government (he is a Cheyenne Riv-er Sioux), he cannot sell it—or anythingon it—without federal permission. Thecourts subsequently awarded Williamspossession of the dinosaur, dubbed forits discoverer, and the government de-cided to auction the fossil on his behalf.

John J. Flynn of the Field Museumsays the remaining preparation of theskeleton should take two years to com-plete. Sue will go on display at the mu-seum in 2000, and two life-size casts ofthe T. rex will travel to museums aroundthe world. Another will be on displayat DinoLand USA in Disney’s newesttheme park in Florida, Animal Kingdom.

Although most paleontologists wererelieved that Sue will go to a museum,many worry that the auction estab-lished a dangerous precedent. “Muse-ums bidding against themselves is a ri-diculous idea,” asserts Louis L. Jacobs,

president of the Society ofVertebrate Paleontology(SVP). And the high-profilesale sets the benchmark, ob-serves Claudia Florian ofPhillips Fine Art Auctioneersin New York City. Manymuseums simply cannot af-ford to pay such astronomi-cal prices. (The Chicago mu-seum got help from variousdonors, including the Cali-fornia State University system,Walt Disney World Resortand McDonald’s.) “There’sno way that setting a highprice on fossils ultimatelyhelps the profession, or mu-seums, or education. It con-tributes to the mind-set thatour national treasures are upfor grabs to the highest bid-der,” Jacobs argues.

Sue’s sale also raises thequestion of access to publiclands. Right now, when itcomes to vertebrate fossils,only academics can get thenecessary permits. But most

commercial fossil operations would liketo see public land open to all collectors—as promised by the Fossil PreservationAct of 1996, which failed to make it tocommittee before Congress recessedearlier this year. Marion K. Zenker ofthe American Land Access Association,an amateur fossil-collecting group, ex-pects the bill to be reintroduced. Zen-ker, who also works for the Black HillsInstitute, says such legislation is neces-sary because large numbers of fossilserode away on public land. The reason:there simply are not enough profession-al paleontologists to collect them. “Ifeveryone were allowed to collect, somuch more would be found, and sci-ence would gain by measures beyondimagination,” she insists.

Commercial paleontologist MichaelTriebold concurs but also thinks collec-tors should be held to strict standards,such as a demonstrated ability to re-move fossils carefully and with respectfor the science. “Requirements shouldinclude things such as site mapping;photographing before, during and af-ter; proper field techniques; and savingcontextual data,” he states. If thoserules are satisfied, he believes, then com-mercial collectors should be given accessto public lands and the right to disposeof fossils as they see fit, perhaps allow-ing for a fee to go to the land manage-ment agency. The only exception wouldbe if the fossil represented a new species.

Some insist that even framing the bat-tle as commerce versus academia is mis-leading. “Not all fossils have scientificvalue, and most scientifically importantfossils have no commercial value. Onlyseldom does a fossil have the two,” main-tains Henry Galiano, owner of Maxillaand Mandible, a New York City fossilstore. Terry Wentz of the Black Hills In-stitute adds, “Just because it went intopublic hands doesn’t necessarily meanthat the specimen would be taken careof well. It’s the individual people in-volved with the fossils that make thedifference.”

Still, Jacobs and the SVP take a hardline: “What we have to do is use the les-son of Sue to make sure that vertebratefossils are never allowed to be commer-cially collected from public lands, be-cause what belongs to the public shouldnot be sold to the public.” The fight forSue may be over, but the battle overbones wages on. —Karin Vergoth

News and Analysis18 Scientific American December 1997

SCIENCE AND THE CITIZEN

NO BONES ABOUT IT

T. rex Sue highlights the battle over private collecting on public land

PALEONTOLOGY

NEW CARETAKER OF SUEis the Field Museum in Chicago, represented by (left to right) John McCarter, Peter Crane and Richard Gray at the Sotheby’s auction.

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Copyright 1997 Scientific American, Inc.