The dinosaur market has produced another monster sale.
“Jodi,” a 67-million-year-old Nanotyrannus skeleton, sold Tuesday at Sotheby’s New York for $47.3 million, including fees, more than five times its $9 million high estimate. The skeleton hammered at $40.5 million, making it one of the most expensive dinosaur fossils ever sold at auction.
The result comes just three months after Sotheby’s sold “Gus,” a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, for a record $50.1 million. That July sale, which carried a $20 million–$30 million estimate, established a new high for prehistoric fossils, surpassing the $44.6 million paid for the Stegosaurus “Apex” in 2024. Jodi came remarkably close to that record, despite being considerably smaller and lacking the brand recognition of a T. rex.
The nearly 20-foot-long skeleton was discovered in Montana’s Hell Creek Formation in 2019 by rancher Jodi Pierson, for whom the fossil was named. According to Sotheby’s, it’s one of only three known Nanotyrannus skeletons and includes 191 fossil bone elements, among them a nearly complete skull.
Until recently, scientists weren’t even sure Nanotyrannus was a separate dinosaur. For decades, researchers debated whether the smaller predator was simply a juvenile T. rex. A study published in Nature last year helped settle the argument, identifying Nanotyrannus as a distinct genus that lived alongside its much larger cousin.
Jodi has already had something of a career in the art market. In 2023, when it was known as “Chomper” and still identified as a juvenile T. rex, London dealer David Aaron offered it for $20 million at Frieze Masters. (The work didn’t sell then as the current consignor acquired it in 2021, according to Sotheby’s provenance listing.) Three years later, with a new name and a new scientific identity, it has sold for more than twice that amount.
The sale is just more evidence that dinosaurs have become serious trophy objects for wealthy collectors, joining blue-chip paintings, rare watches, and sports memorabilia at the top end of the luxury market. In recent years, prices have climbed at a remarkable pace. Christie’s sold the T. rex “Stan” for $31.8 million in 2020, while a juvenile Ceratosaurus brought $30.5 million at Sotheby’s last year against an estimate of just $4 million–$6 million.
The boom has also raised concerns among paleontologists, who worry that scientifically important fossils are increasingly being priced beyond the reach of museums and disappearing into private collections. Auction houses counter that private investment helps fund the expensive work of excavating, preserving, and studying specimens.