A rare dinosaur skeleton once believed to be a young Tyrannosaurus rex sold at auction on Tuesday for a staggering $47.3 million, making it the second-most expensive dinosaur fossil ever sold.
The nearly complete dinosaur skeleton, nicknamed Jodi (pictured below), belongs to a Nanotyrannus, a smaller relative of Tyrannosaurus rex that lived approximately 67 million years ago.
The skeleton measures about 19.6 feet long and includes 191 fossilized bone elements, including a “virtually complete” skull. It is also one of only three nearly complete Nanotyrannus skeletons known to exist.
According to CNN, Sotheby’s in New York sold the skeleton after just a 12-minute bidding war involving six prospective buyers. The winning bidder, who paid more than five times the high-end estimate, has chosen to remain anonymous.
The auction house originally estimated the skeleton would sell for between $6 million and $9 million. Apparently, someone really wanted a dinosaur.
The Rare Dinosaur Skeleton Was Discovered By A Montana Rancher
Rancher Jodi Pierson discovered the dinosaur skeleton in 2019 on her property in Montana’s Hell Creek Formation. Commercial paleontologist Clayton Phipps, known as the “Dinosaur Cowboy,” later excavated the remains.
For decades, scientists debated whether Nanotyrannus was actually a separate dinosaur or simply a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex. Research published in 2025 established that it was a distinct predator, with longer arms, larger hand claws and more slender teeth than the T. rex. Interestingly, Jodi was previously displayed as a juvenile T. rex at a London art fair in 2023.
Scientists Are Worried The Dinosaur Will Disappear Into A Private Collection
While the sale was certainly good news for Jodi Pierson, some paleontologists aren’t celebrating. According to the BBC, researchers worry about wealthy private collectors increasingly buying historically significant dinosaur remains instead of museums.
In fact, University of Edinburgh paleontologist Steve Brusatte called the possibility of Jodi disappearing into a private collection “harrowing.” David Hone, a paleontologist at Queen Mary University of London, also questioned the skyrocketing prices.
“It does feel like this is a bubble of prices on dinosaurs which must burst at some point,” he told CNN.
The previous record for a dinosaur fossil was set in July when a T. rex named Gus sold for $50.1 million. Another dinosaur, a Stegosaurus skeleton named Apex sold for a then-record $44.6 million in 2024. Another 150-million-year-old juvenile Ceratosaurus skeleton sold at Sotheby’s in July 2025 for $30.5 million, despite an estimated value of just $4 million to $6 million.
It seems that owning a dinosaur has become an expensive hobby for some.
As for Jodi, nobody knows whether its new owner plans to display the skeleton publicly. That means one of the rarest dinosaur fossils ever discovered could end up somewhere only its very wealthy owner can enjoy.