A dinosaur fossil that looks like a mini T. rex just sold for a giant $47 million

A dinosaur that looks like a miniature T. rex is now one of the world’s most expensive fossils. The rare skeleton of a Nanotyrannus, recently confirmed to be a distant cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex, not just a young specimen, sold for $47.3 million to a mystery buyer at auction in New York City on Tuesday October 27th 2026. Sotheby’s had expected it to fetch anywhere from $6 to $9 million.

The blockbuster price tag for “Jodi”, as the skeleton is nicknamed, makes it the second-priciest set of dinosaur bones ever sold. The summer of 2026, a T. rex fossil known as “Gus” sold for a record $50.1 million at Sotheby’s. The new owner of “Jodi” has, for now, chosen to remain anonymous after outbidding five other prospective buyers online and by phone during the roughly 12-minute live auction.

A Nanotyrannus was about half the length of an adult T. rex, and the two creatures coexisted during the Cretaceous period some 67 million years ago. Nanotyrannus had relatively longer forelimbs and larger hand claws, as well as more slender, blade-like teeth than its famous cousin. “Jodi” is one of only three such skeletons known to exist.

The dinosaur is named after Jodi Pierson, the Montana rancher who discovered it on her land in 2019.

Standing 6.5 feet tall and stretching nearly 20 feet, “Jodi” has been on display at Sotheby’s upper Manhattan headquarters since early October 2026, and is considered almost 70% complete. Sotheby’s, in a statement, thanked the team of professional fossil hunters whose efforts to discover and excavate the specimen were the focus of the Discovery Channel documentary series “Dino Hunters” in 2020. The professional fossil hunters’ commitment to understanding and preserving this remarkable specimen has helped bring Sotheby’s to this moment, a testament to the fact that everyone can all make major contributions to science.

However, some scientists have opposed such private sales, saying “Jodi” and other significant fossils should be displayed in museums or other institutions so they can be studied by researchers and viewed by the public. Scientists for decades were not even sure whether Nanotyrannus represented a distinct type of dinosaur or merely a juvenile T. rex. But research published in 2025 concluded that Nanotyrannus was in fact a distinct genus of dinosaur.

The sale has reignited debate in the scientific community over whether dinosaur remains should be sold privately or displayed publicly. “Jodi” is the first to come to market since the existence of the genus was confirmed by American researchers in October 2025. It becomes the second-most valuable dinosaur fossil ever sold, behind “Gus”.

The third-most valuable was a Stegosaurus named “Apex”, which was sold by Sotheby’s in July 2024 for $44.6 million.

“Jodi” was initially exhibited as a juvenile T. rex at London’s Frieze Masters international art fair in October 2023, before the Nanotyrannus genus was classified. The auction of “Jodi” comes as some scientists warn that auctions could herald a new era in fossil collecting by the ultra-rich. Researchers hope such a sale did not become a trend, adding it could adversely affect scientific research and public education.

But there were two sides to the debate, and that a lot of time, effort, and money went into excavating the specimens.