Nanotyrannus Skeleton Jodi Sells for $47.3 Million at Sotheby's

A Nanotyrannus skeleton known as Jodi sold at Sotheby's in New York on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, for $47,255,000 including fees. News reports put the total at $47.3 million. The hammer price was $40.5 million, before fees were added.

No buyer was reported in the coverage of the sale. The New York Times carried the result under a headline calling Jodi a cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex. The BBC carried the sale in its world headlines the same day.

A price far above estimate

Sotheby's had estimated the skeleton at $6 million to $9 million before the sale. The final total came in at more than five times the $9 million high estimate.

The price makes Jodi one of the most expensive dinosaur fossils ever sold at auction. It ranks second on that list. The only fossil ahead of it is Gus, a Tyrannosaurus rex that Sotheby's sold for a record $50.1 million in July 2026.

The exact total of $47,255,000 was recorded in an update timestamped 14:19 UTC on October 27 at the foot of Galerie Magazine's preview of the sale.

Found in Montana in 2019

Jodi was discovered in 2019 by Montana rancher Jodi Pierson in the Hell Creek Formation in Montana. The fossil is about 67 million years old.

The specimen holds around 191 fossil bone elements. They include a virtually complete skull. Mounted, the skeleton measures about 6.5 feet tall and 19.6 feet long.

The skeleton had been on display at Sotheby's Breuer galleries in New York from October 13, 2026, ahead of the sale, so visitors could see it before it went under the hammer.

A small predator beside T. rex

The fossil was once thought to be a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex. Research cited by Sotheby's identifies Nanotyrannus as a distinct genus that lived alongside T. rex.

According to that research, the animal was built for speed. It had longer arms and larger hand claws than T. rex. That separate identity is part of what made the specimen rare and closely watched ahead of the auction.

Debate over private fossil sales

The sale comes amid debate in the scientific community about whether dinosaur remains should end up in private hands or on public view. The BBC noted that debate in its coverage of the auction.

The Society of Vertebrate Palaeontology opposes private sales of significant fossils. It argues that such specimens should be displayed in museums and research institutions. Its president, Stuart Sumida of California State University San Bernardino, told the Associated Press that no peer reviewed study can be published on specimens not held in the public trust.

Sotheby's took the other side of the argument. Its natural history specialist, Cassandra Hatton, said private diggers are needed because there are not enough university and museum field programmes. "We absolutely need private diggers who invest their own money," she told the Associated Press.

Where Jodi goes next was not reported. For now, the sale sets the second highest price ever paid at auction for a dinosaur fossil, behind only Gus.