THE BIG SURPRISE OF CHRISTIE'S "20TH CENTURY" AUCTION? WOULD YOU BELIEVE A $28 MILLION T-REX?

Christie’s 20th-century evening art auction, which included a major non-art item, was done over livestream from Rockefeller Center and brought in over $340 million

According to Artnet News there was,

• Mark Rothko’s 1967 Untitled, that sold for $31.3 million

• Willem de Kooning’s Woman (Green) (1953–55), which sold for $23.3 million with premium

• Paul Cézanne’s watercolor, Nature morte avec pot au lait, melon et sucrier (1900–06) sold for $28.6 million, a record for a work on paper by the artist

• Cy Twombly’s Untitled (Bolsena) was the sale’s top lot at $38.7 million 

Mark Rothko, Untitled, 1967

But the grand finale of the evening was an unprecedented auction of a T-Rex skeleton named “Stan” that carried an estimate of $6 million to $8 million. It is one of the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons ever discovered. 

The bidding opened bidding at around $3 million, and quickly shot up to the mid $20 million range. In the end, it was won by Christie’s specialist James Hislop, head of its science and natural history division. “Stan” hammered down for $27.5 million, not including the premium. 

Hislop declined to say whether it sold to a private or institutional buyer.

(Photos, Christie’s; via Artnet News)