Stan the T. Rex sells for a whopping $31.8M at auction, beating estimates by 4 times

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Stan the Tyrannosaurus rex has sold for a whopping $31.8 million at auction. The winning bid on Tuesday night was $27.5 million and after fees it quadrupled the pre-bid estimates of $8 million.

The nearly 40-foot-long and 13-feet-tall specimen became the highest priced dinosaur fossil of all time.

Stan went last but definitely not least during Christie's auction live stream that the auction house reported 280,000 viewers tuned in to watch.

The bidding war ended with a telephone winner who remains anonymous. Some of the agreements of the deal are the prohibition of a 3D rendering of the ancient beast as well as no merchandise being made in its honor.

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Stan is considered one of the world's most complete T. rex skeleton. Its name derives from the amateur archeologist who discovered the skeleton in the Badlands of South Dakota. Stan Sacrison made the discovery in 1987 but the fossil dates back 67 million years.

The specimen is the fifth most intact T. rex skeleton ever found comprising of 70% real bone. The first is Sue who was last in auction in 1992 by Sotheby's and was sold to the Field Museum in Chicago for $8.4 million.

The Field says the skeleton of Sue includes 250 of 380 known T. rex bones and comparatively Stan contains 188 according to the Christie's auction listing.