Battle for the bones of a $1m dinosaur called Sue

The most complete skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex in existence may fetch $1m, the highest price ever paid for fossil, when it is auctioned next year.

The dinosaur, about 50ft long, was preserved in a rocky South Dakotan outcrop in such detail that experts believe she was a middle-aged female. Named Sue after her discovery by Sue Hendrickson in 1990, she has had a controversial life since.

For four years commercial fossil dealers, paleontologists, a Sioux indian, the National Guard and several government agencies have wrestled over her in a tangle of legal disputes. When Sue arrived at the auction house last week she was in boxes sealed by the FBI.

Sue was found by Ms Hendrickson, a geologist working for the Black Hills Geological Institute, on land owned by Maurice Williams, a Sioux indian whose ranch is on the Cheyenne River Reservation.

The bones were pointed out to Peter Larsen, a commercial fossil dealer currently serving a two year prison sentence, who paid Mr Williams $5,000 for the rights to remove the dinosaur.

However, paleontologists objected to the Black Hills institute's prospecting on land that Mr Williams had placed in trust to the government in lieu of taxes. Furthermore, Larsen did not have a permit to dig on what is technically federal land.

In May, 1992, the US attorney for South Dakota filed 153 charges against Larsen and led a surprise raid on the institute, gathered up Sue's bones and carted them off to a storeroom in Rapid City.

The proceeds from the sale will benefit Mr Williams, who was given permission by the Bureau of Indian Affairs to sell. However, the controversy is not finished.

No fossil of such significance has ever been on the market before and it is not certain if Sue will fetch Sotheby's "one million plus" estimate. The dinosaur bone market is depressed by recent tyrannosaurus discoveries and it will cost at least $500,000 to dislodge and clean the bones.

Whatever becomes of Sue, she will no doubt be relieved to be freed from her crates. "Sue has been an orphaned dinosaur," said David Redden, vice- president of Sotheby's in New York. "We hope the auction will find her a home worthy of her magnificent bones."