A 66-million-year-old Triceratops skeleton, nicknamed Trey, sold for $5.55 million at the online auction platform Joopiter. The fossil, excavated in 1993, had been on continuous public display at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center for three decades and represents the first dinosaur skeleton sold by Joopiter, a platform founded by Pharrell Williams.
The sale underscores the booming market for dinosaur fossils among collectors, setting a record for an online-only fossil auction. It also reignites ethical debates about private ownership of scientifically significant specimens, highlighting a growing trend where some high-profile buyers are placing their acquisitions on public loan to museums.