Rare Nanotyrannus skeleton sells for $47.3m at New York auction
Summary
A Nanotyrannus skeleton named “Jodi” sold for $47.3 million at a Sotheby’s auction in New York, far above its $6 million to $9 million estimate. The buyer has not been publicly identified, and a paleontologist warned that private ownership could limit scientific access to the fossil.Key Facts
- The sale took place on Tuesday after a 12-minute bidding contest involving six bidders.
- Sotheby’s said the $47.3 million price made Jodi the second most valuable dinosaur ever sold at auction.
- Jodi was discovered by Jodi Pierson in 2019 on her privately owned land in Montana’s Hell Creek Formation.
- The skeleton is 19.6 feet long and about 9.6 feet tall on its armature, with approximately 191 fossil bone elements.
- Sotheby’s said Jodi is one of only three substantial Nanotyrannus skeletons known to science.
- Sotheby’s describes Nanotyrannus as a carnivorous tyrannosaurid that lived about 67 million years ago alongside Tyrannosaurus rex.
- Paleontologist Thomas R. Holtz Jr. said fossils in private hands may become inaccessible to researchers and the public, and argued that museums could use the money to acquire several specimens.
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