$30.5 Million Dinosaur Sale Sparks Debate Over Fossil Ownership

On July 16, 2025, Sotheby’s auctioned a rare Ceratosaurus fossil for an astonishing $30.5 million, more than five times its estimated value. The sale, which took place in New York City, lasted just six minutes and involved fierce bidding both online and over the phone. While the fossil’s preservation and rarity drove up its price, the sale has reignited a

scientific debate: Should fossils be sold into private hands at all?

The fossil, discovered in 1996 near Bone Cabin Quarry, Wyoming, is one of the four Ceratosaurus skeletons ever unearthed and the only juvenile known to science. It is nearly a complete skull; it was six feet tall and 11 feet long, making it a great and easy collectible, as it can fit in a room. The specimen had been on public display at the nonprofit Museum of Ancient Life in Utah until 2024, when it was sold to commercial paleontologist Brock Sisson, who then mounted it and signed it to Sotheby’s, the fine art company in charge of its auction.

The auction’s outcome places the Ceratosaurus as the third-most expensive dinosaur fossil ever sold, following the 2024 sale of a Stegosaurus named “Apex” for $44.6 million and the $31.8 million sale of a Tyrannosaurus rex named “Stan” in 2020. However, while some celebrate the high-profile nature of these transactions, many scientists and paleontologists warn of troubling consequences.

“This is basically validating the high prices of the fossil market,” said Andre LuJan, president of the Association of Applied Paleontological Sciences. He fears that private landowners may now raise fees for fossil digs, and museums, especially smaller ones, will be priced out of essential specimens for study and education. “It’s creating an arms race,” LuJan added.

Sotheby’s vice chair Cassandra Hatton, who oversaw the sale, defended the auction, saying, “This dinosaur was in a privately held institution for 30 years. It was not studied.” She also noted that the new owner intends to loan the specimen to a museum, thereby offering it to research.

But some people worry that selling fossils like collectibles could make it harder for the public to learn about natural history. Fossils help scientists understand what life was like millions of years ago, but if they end up in private collections, they might never be studied or shared, as it is now sitting in a glass box and it scientists can’t study it anymore.

Thomas Carr, a paleontologist at Carthage College, says that private fossil sales often do not include the detailed records scientists need to study the fossil’s origin, age, and environmental context. “When fossils are treated like artwork and sold, we lose important scientific information,” Carr explained in an earlier interview about a similar auction.

As the fossil market becomes more valuable, the conflict between private buyers and museums or researchers is likely to grow. No one knows yet if the Ceratosaurus will be studied by scientists or locked away in someone’s private collection, but its sale has made the debate even more intense.