Sotheby's Is Selling One of Only Three Known Nanotyrannus Skeletons for Up to $9 Million USD

The market for prehistoric artifacts is about to test the financial weight of a scientific rebrand. On October 27, Sotheby’s New York will open bidding on a mounted dinosaur skeleton named Jodi, carrying a pre-sale estimate of $6 million USD to $9 million USD. If the formidable fossil looks familiar to high-end collectors, it is because the exact same skeleton was exhibited in 2023 at Frieze London under a completely different identity. Back then, it was billed as Chomper, marketed as a juvenile Tyrannosaurus Rex and slapped with a $20 million USD price tag. Now, following a major paleontological shift, the skeleton returns to the auction block with a new name, species classification and a significantly reduced valuation.

The specimen has officially been reclassified as a Nanotyrannus, specifically the species Nanotyrannus cf. lancensis. This shift resolves a long-running paleontological debate regarding whether these smaller skeletons were merely young T. rexes or an entirely separate evolutionary lineage. A study published in Nature by scientists Lindsay Zanno and James Napoli finally put the argument to rest. They analyzed 200 fossils to introduce the Nanotyrannus as a distinctly valid genus. Individual markers included 150 morphological differences from the T. rex that established the species as a fast, highly specialized predator. While this scientific validation makes the specimen historically rare, the steep financial drop from its previous asking price illustrates a harsh reality of the dinosaur auction category. The unmatched cultural cachet of the T. rex brand remains the ultimate driver of premium valuations regardless of scientific novelty.

Standing exactly as imposing as a 67-million-year-old Cretaceous killer should, Jodi dates back to the Maastrichtian age. The skeleton measures approximately 6.5 feet tall and stretches 19.6 feet long. According to an earlier estimate, the specimen is 55 percent complete and boasts a breathtaking array of intact biological hardware. Fossil features include a virtually complete skull locked with 35 teeth, all four claws, a complete pelvis, a thighbone and a collarbone.

Physical unearthing of the fossil is a piece of modern excavation lore. Jodi was discovered in 2019 in the fossil-rich Hell Creek Formation located in Garfield County, Montana, found by namesake Jodi Pierson. Following the initial discovery, commercial paleontologist Clayton Phipps handled the excavation process, an extraction that was filmed for the Discovery Channel series Dino Hunters. Currently, the specimen stands as one of only three such Nanotyrannus skeletons known to science. As the first Nanotyrannus to come to market following the scientific confirmation of the genus’s validity, the Sotheby’s auction represents a first-of-its-kind opportunity to acquire a certified piece of newly rewritten paleontological history.