A juvenile Ceratosaur dinosaur fossil was sold for $30.5 million at Sotheby’s, leagues above its high estimate of $6 million.
The fossil was undoubtedly the highlight of the Sotheby’s natural history sale, and for good reason. It is one of the most complete skeletons of a dinosaur ever found, with 139 fossilized bones and a skull in remarkably great condition. The fossil was found in the Bone Cabin Quarry, Wyoming, in 1996.
With $30.5. million selling price, it is now the third most expensive dinosaur fossil ever sold. It is only behind the “Apex” skeleton, which was sold for $44.6 million in July 2024, and a T-Rex skeleton sold for $32 million in 2020. For Sotheby’s, selling dinosaur fossils is not a new thing; the auction house was behind the first-ever dinosaur fossil auction in 1997.
The Ceratosaur fossil, after its first discovery, was housed at the Museum of Ancient Life. It was reportedly later bought by a former employee, corporate palaeontologist Brock Sisson, for an undisclosed amount. It was Sisson who brought the fossil to Sotheby’s for the auction. The auction house said that the new, unnamed buyer intends to loan the skeleton to a public museum.
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Among the remaining lots, there were two that sold for seven figures and well above high estimates; coincidentally, both were dinosaur fossils as well. One of them was a “virtually complete” Skull of a Pachycephalosaurus (estimated $800,000–$1.2 million), while the other one was an articulated Tyrannosaurus Rex Foot (estimated $250,000–$350,000). Both sold for $1.758 million, including fees.
