A Ceratosaurus fossil that is one of only four known to exist has sold for $30.5 million at auction.
The rare dinosaur fossil is ‘one of the finest and most complete examples of its kind ever found’, auction house Sotheby’s said in a statement.
The specimen, which is the only juvenile Ceratosaurus fossil of the four, sold for multiples of its $4m-$6m estimate at Sotheby’s New York following a six-minute battle between six different bidders, reports CNN.
Ceratosaurus nasicornis was a meat-eating predator with a nasal horn, long teeth and bony armour that ran down its back and tail.
Standing 1.9 metres tall and approximately 3.25m long, this juvenile fossil is made up of 139 bone elements, of which 57 make up ‘a superb virtually complete skull’, according to Sotheby’s.
It was found in 1996 at Bone Cabin Quarry in Wyoming and dates from the late Jurassic period, around 150m years ago.
The fossil was displayed at the Museum of Ancient Life in Thanksgiving Point, Utah, from 2000 to 2024 and has not been studied or described formally in a scientific journal, Sotheby’s said.
“The buyer of the Ceratosaurus intends to loan it to an institution, as is fitting for a specimen of this rarity and importance,” the auction house said.
In the same sale, a meteorite that is the largest known piece of Mars on Earth sold for $5.3m.
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