Rare Dinosaur Skeleton 'Jodi' Fetches Staggering USD 47.3 Million at Auction

A rare Nanotyrannus skeleton named 'Jodi' has sold for USD 47.3 million at a Sotheby’s auction in New York, following a 12-minute bidding contest involving six bidders. The price far exceeded its estimated value of USD 6–9 million, making it the second-most expensive dinosaur fossil sold at auction.

Discovered in 2019 by Montana rancher Jodi Pierson on her privately owned land near Jordan, Montana, the specimen was excavated by commercial paleontologist Clayton Phipps, nicknamed the “Dinosaur Cowboy”, and his team. The fossil entered a private collection in 2021 and was previously displayed in London in 2023 as a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex.

Standing 9.6 feet tall and measuring 19.6 feet long, Jodi is approximately 70 per cent complete and comprises 191 fossilised bone elements. Its virtually complete skull contains 53 bones and around 50 teeth. Based on its size and bone development, Sotheby’s identified it as an adult specimen that lived approximately 67 million years ago.

Nanotyrannus was roughly half the length of an adult T. rex but had longer forelimbs, larger hand claws and narrower, blade-like teeth. Research published in 2025 supported the conclusion that it was a distinct dinosaur rather than a juvenile T. rex, following decades of scientific debate.

Only three substantial Nanotyrannus skeletons are known. Another specimen, Jane, is housed at the Burpee Museum of Natural History in Illinois, while 'Bloody Mary' forms part of the famous Dueling Dinosaurs fossil display in North Carolina. Jodi is the first such skeleton auctioned since the scientific reassessment.

The sale narrowly missed the record set by the T. rex skeleton 'Gus', which fetched USD 50.1 million earlier this year. It also surpassed the USD 44.6 million paid for the Stegosaurus fossil 'Apex' in 2024.

The unidentified buyer acquired full reproduction rights, allowing replicas to be produced and sold. However, paleontologists, including Steve Brusatte, have criticised private fossil sales, warning that important specimens could become inaccessible to researchers and the public if kept in private collections.