A rare juvenile Ceratosaurus fossil sold for $30.5 million at Sotheby's New York, far exceeding its $6 million presale estimate after a six-minute bidding war. The 154-159 million-year-old specimen, discovered in 1996 at Wyoming's Bone Cabin Quarry, contains 139 original bone elements and stands over 6 feet tall. Sotheby's stated the buyer plans to loan the fossil to an institution.
The sale highlights the booming market for dinosaur fossils, which have become trophy assets for wealthy collectors, with Sotheby's previously selling the T-rex 'Sue' for $8.4 million in 1997 and the Stegosaurus 'Apex' for $44.6 million in 2024. However, the auction reignites debate between commercial interests and scientific preservation, as paleontologists warn that private sales can remove specimens from public research and education.