Sotheby’s Auctions a Ceratosaur Dinosaur Fossil for $30.5 Million
On July 16th, a juvenile Ceratosaur fossil auctioned for $30.5 million with fees at Sotheby’s, soaring past the estimate announced a month earlier of approximately $4 million to $6 million.
The specimen was a predatory reptile that roamed North America around 150 million – 149 millions years ago. Its most prominent features include its thin nasal horn, sharp teeth, and bony armor down its back and tail. The ceratosaur was unearthed at Bone Cabin Quarry in Wyoming in 1966. It’s only a junior with the mounted fossil only being 6 ft 3 in tall. It was described by Sotheby’s as “exceptional”, “one of the finest and most complete examples of its genus ever found”, with 139 bones and “a remarkably complete and fully articulate skull.”
Before meeting its current owner at the auction, it was first an unmounted public display at the nonprofit Museum of Ancient Life in Utah until 2024. The fossil was sold to Brock Sisson, one of their former employees. His company mounted and brought the ceratosaur to Sotheby’s.
The bid was finished in just 6 six minutes, consisting of 6 six bidders from phone calls, online, and in-person. The dinosaur’s final price made it the third-most expensive price for a fossil at an auction.
Questions Emerge of Accessibility of Rare Fossils to the Public
Many experts worry this will become a model case. “Are museums going to look at these fossils from private lands as potential cash cow?” Andre LuJan, the president of the Association of Applied Paleontological Sciences, asked.
Critics question the accessibility of these rare fossils for public research and education.
Cassandra Hatton, the vice chairman and global head of sciences and natural history at Sotheby’s said, “This dinosaur was in a privately held institution for 30 years. It was not studied at that institution. There is now perhaps the opportunity that it will be studied.”
Sotheby’s press release has further stated that the buyer of the junior ceratosaur intends to loan it to an institution.
Other Fossils in Sotheby’s Auction
Not only did the Ceratosaur dinosaur break bidding expectations, the Wednesday auction displayed many other spectacular items.
Among them was the largest piece of Mars on earth. The bidding for the Martian Meteorite – NWA 16788 lasted 15 minutes with bidders on the phone and online. It was finally sold for $5.3 million with fees with an expensive estimate of $4 million. The 54-pound item set a new world record for the most valuable meteor ever sold at an auction.
Two other dinosaur specimens were also featured, both selling for approximately 1.8 million including fees.
