Jodi the Nanotyrannus Sells for $47.3 Million at Sotheby’s New York Auction
A mounted skeleton of a Nanotyrannus named Jodi sold for $47.3 million at a Sotheby’s auction in New York on October 27, 2026, after a 12-minute bidding war among six contenders. The Late Cretaceous carnivore, once mistaken for a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex, blew past its pre-sale estimate of $6 million to $9 million.
The sale makes Jodi the second-most expensive dinosaur fossil ever sold at auction, trailing only a T. rex named Gus, which fetched $50.1 million at Sotheby’s. Apex, a Stegosaurus put up by Sotheby’s in July 2024, stands as the third-most valuable after fetching $44.6 million.
Excavation History in the Hell Creek Formation
Rancher Jodi Pierson discovered the rare fossil in 2019 on her land in the Hell Creek Formation in Montana, an area known for extensive fossil finds where the first T. rex skeleton was unearthed in 1902. Commercial paleontologist Clayton Phipps excavated the specimen.
Only three Nanotyrannus skeletons are known to exist. Now, #SothebysNewYork has one of them. Its name is Jodi. Come see Jodi in person at the Breuer building in New York from 13 October ahead of the live sale on 27 October. Measuring approximately 6.5-feet-tall when mounted… pic.twitter.com/oMHI8OKdIP
The exhibition-ready mounted skeleton measures approximately 19.6 feet long from nose to tail. The single individual comprises roughly 191 fossil bone elements, including a virtually complete skull, axial skeleton elements, a complete set of pelvic girdle bones, well-represented forelimbs with 15 of 20 manus bones and four claws, a complete furcula, a complete femur, and 13 bones of the right pes.
Scientific Classification and Ongoing Debates
For decades, paleontologists debated whether small tyrannosaurid skeletons from the Hell Creek Formation belonged to a separate, smaller predator or were simply young T. rex individuals that had not finished growing. That debate shifted when researchers Lindsay Zanno and James Napoli published a study examining the “Dueling Dinosaurs” specimen—a Nanotyrannus and a Triceratops found eight miles (13km) away from Jodi’s excavation site by Phipps in 2006. Growth rings in the bones showed it was physically mature at about 20 years old, possessing larger arms, more teeth, and fewer tail vertebrae than a T. rex.
University of Portsmouth paleontologist Megan Jacobs noted on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Nanotyrannus is smaller and more gracile, featuring sleek, slender, blade-like teeth for slicing through meat. Both species coexisted roughly 67 million years ago.
Public Display Concerns Versus Commercial Realities
The high-profile auction has reignited discussions among scientists regarding private fossil sales and public access. Steve Brusatte, a professor of paleontology and evolution at Scotland’s University of Edinburgh, stated that one of the best skeletons of a species only recently confirmed as real was about to be sold to the highest bidder.
Sharing similar misgivings, Dave Hone conveyed to CNN that ascertaining the true scientific worth of the find remains nearly impossible absent thorough and verified expert analysis, adding that he would be very surprised if the specimen ended up in a public collection and available for study, and so until that point it is effectively outside of science. Conversely, Jacobs pointed out that a lot of them have ended up in the public eye and these things without a doubt will end up in a museum at some point.
The identity of the buyer who won the 12-minute auction remains undisclosed.
