Tech Wealth is Fueling Record Prices—for Dinosaur Bones.
I don’t remember the word, and I don’t have enough interest in finding it to type a 10- or 12-word description into AI. But there is a word for people who gradually get into weirder and weirder things.
I first heard about it years ago when somebody was explaining why the rich and famous so often develop the kinds of interests that make normal people stop and say, “Wait, they’re into what?”
The theory was basically this: Once you’re rich enough and famous enough, the normal range of human pleasures stops doing it for you. A nice dinner isn’t exciting. A nice car isn’t exciting. Even a mansion on the ocean eventually becomes just another place where somebody has to remember which light switch controls the pool house.
So they keep moving further and further toward the edges, looking for something that still feels new.
It makes sense. There are only so many houses, cars, boats, and private jets a billionaire can buy before he needs something a little more interesting.
Apparently, that’s where the dinosaurs come in, according to a recent CNBC article:
A 67-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton named Gus recently sold at Sotheby’s for a record $50.1 million — more than twice its low estimate.
The 38-foot skeleton is about 61% complete, which sounds a little disappointing until you remember that we’re talking about an animal that died 67 followed by six zeroes years ago.
Seven bidders reportedly fought over ol’ Gus for 10 minutes before an anonymous buyer finally won.
That’s right. Somewhere out there, somebody spent more than $50 million on a T. rex and, at least for now, doesn’t want anyone to know who he is. Yet.
Gus broke the previous fossil record set in 2024, when hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin paid $44.6 million for a Stegosaurus named Apex. Before that, the record belonged to another T. rex named Stan, which sold for nearly $32 million in 2020.
The dinosaur boom is only one piece of a much larger spending spree being fueled by fortunes made in artificial intelligence, technology companies, and the soaring stock market.
Sotheby’s brought in a record $4.4 billion during the first half of 2026, while Christie’s reported $4.5 billion. A Jackson Pollock painting sold for $181 million. A Brancusi sculpture brought $107.6 million. Somebody paid $13.9 million for an F.P. Journe watch.
Even Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s old leather jacket attracted a $960,000 bid.
It turns out that when people suddenly become richer than entire towns, they don’t just buy nicer versions of normal things.
Eventually, somebody puts a dinosaur in the living room.
