A mounted Nanotyrannus skeleton nicknamed "Jodi" is being offered at auction by Sotheby's in New York, with bidding set to open at no less than $6m (£4.5m), according to the BBC. The sale, scheduled for Tuesday, comes roughly a year after US researchers established that the remains belong to a genus distinct from Tyrannosaurus rex. Sotheby's expects the specimen could bring as much as $9m.
The roughly 3m-tall (10ft) Late Cretaceous carnivore is being marketed as an "excellent exhibition-ready" display, the auction house said, comprising about 191 fossil-bone elements and a skull that Sotheby's describes as beautifully preserved and virtually complete. According to the auction house, it is one of just three skeletons of its kind known to science, and the first to reach the market since the genus was confirmed.
Why it matters
The auction lands at an awkward moment for palaeontology. Interest in Nanotyrannus is fresh — the classification paper by Lindsay Zanno and James Napoli closed decades of argument over whether the animal was its own species or simply a young T. rex — and the sale of one of only three known skeletons raises questions about who gets to study and display such finds.
It also follows a much larger transaction. In July, Sotheby's sold a T. rex known as "Gus" for a record $50.1m (£37.4m), a figure the BBC reported at the time. That sale prompted warnings from researchers that private buyers could pull important specimens out of public reach.
Prof Steve Brusatte, a palaeontologist at the University of Edinburgh who advised on the Jurassic Park films, told the BBC's What in the World programme in July that the T. rex auction was "concerning," noting that few museums or universities could match such prices. He compared the situation to a masterpiece held privately, asking what would happen if the Mona Lisa belonged to a wealthy individual and the public could neither see nor enjoy it. At the time, he said he hoped the sale would not set a pattern, warning of consequences for research and public education.
Reacting to the Nanotyrannus sale, Brusatte told the BBC it was "harrowing" that "Jodi" might vanish from public view. He pointed out that the animal's status as a distinct genus had only just been established, and said it would be troubling if one of its finest skeletons ended up in a collector's vaults instead of a museum where it could inspire children, families and the wider public.
A specimen with a history
"Jodi" takes its nickname from Jodi Pierson, the Montana rancher who found the skeleton on her land in the Hall Creek Formation, a geological site that has been heavily studied. Commercial palaeontologist Clayton Phipps later excavated it. Phipps was also behind the "Dueling Dinosaurs" find, a specimen showing a Nanotyrannus and a Triceratops apparently locked in combat, unearthed eight miles (13km) from "Jodi" in 2006. That discovery supplied key evidence for the Zanno and Napoli research that separated Nanotyrannus from T. rex.
Before the genus was formally recognised, "Jodi" was put on show at London's Frieze Masters international art fair in October 2023, presented at the time as a juvenile T. rex.
Megan Jenkins, a palaeontologist at the University of Portsmouth, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Tuesday that Nanotyrannus had long been regarded as a kind of adolescent T. rex. In reality, she said, it is considerably smaller and more lightly built — sleek and slender, with blade-like teeth suited to slicing meat. Both animals shared the same geological period around 67 million years ago, according to the BBC.
Jenkins offered a more measured view of the sale than Brusatte's. She told the programme that the debate has two sides, noting the substantial time, effort and money that go into digging out such specimens. She said she did not resent those involved seeking a large sum, and while she called the prospect of a private sale frightening, she observed that many such finds have ultimately come before the public. In her view, specimens of this kind will without doubt end up in a museum at some point.
What to watch
Whether "Jodi" sells on Tuesday, and to whom, will indicate whether the record sums paid for dinosaurs are becoming routine — and whether researchers' calls for such finds to stay in public collections gain any traction with buyers.
