Since its inception as a commercial interest in the 19th century,
a growing debate has formed around vertebrate fossils to
collect, research, and sell significant specimens on the world stage.
In 1997, the most-complete Tyrannosaurus Rex specimen found to
date, Sue, was auctioned off to the Chicago Field Museum for an
unprecedented $8.3 million.
In 2020 the famous Tyrannosaurus Rex named Stan sold for a
record-breaking amount over three times the winning bid for Sue.
Academic and commercial interests were baffled and have only
worsened concerns over who should be able to own, study, and
collect significant fossils in the modern age.
The film documents the long-standing divide between a variety of interests involved in the ownership of dinosaur fossils in the academic, commercial, private, and legal sectors of multi-million dollar fossil markets. Following interests based in Montana, Colorado, and South Dakota (some of the "hot-beds" of fossil collection in the Western United States), the film involves the opinions and values towards the ownership and sale of fossils in the modern age for posterity or prosperity.
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