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Nanotyrannus skeleton “Jodi” sells for $47.3 million at Sotheby’s New York
October 27, 2026 at 09:59 PM
Coverage
3 reports · over 8 hours
TGThe Guardian
Rare Nanotyrannus skeleton, sells for $47.3m at New York auction
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CNCNN
Rare Nanotyrannus sells at auction for $47.3 million, becoming second most valuable fossil ever
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BNBBC News
Nanotyrannus skeleton goes to auction in New York with £4.5m price tag
(opens the publisher’s site)A rare Nanotyrannus skeleton, one of the world’s most expensive fossils, sold for $47.3 million at Sotheby’s in New York on Tuesday.
- The skeleton sold after a 12-minute bidding war among six bidders, far surpassing Sotheby’s pre-sale estimate of $6–9 million.
- Named “Jodi” after rancher Jodi Pierson, who found it in 2019 on her Montana land, it is one of three substantial Nanotyrannus skeletons known to science.
- Sotheby’s called the sale the second most valuable dinosaur auction ever, behind the T. rex “Gus,” which fetched $50.1 million in July.
- Paleontologist Steve Brusatte said it was “harrowing” that the specimen could disappear into a private collector’s vaults rather than a museum.