Sotheby’s is auctioning the only known juvenile specimen of a Ceratosaurus nasicornis dinosaur for an estimated $4-6 million. It is one of the finest and most complete examples of its genus.
A swift and agile distant cousin of the T. rex, the extraordinary Ceratosaurus youth at auction measures 6 feet and 3 inches tall and 10 feet 8 inches long. Sotheby’s has mounted it for the first time in history as one of the most extraordinary examples from its genus.
The remarkable specimen is the latest in Sotheby’s “pioneering National History offerings,” which began in 1997. In 2024, Sotheby’s made a historic sale of Apex at $45 million, which set the world record for any dinosaur or fossil sold at auction. The Ceratosaurus reflects their “commitment to presenting the most important and precious treasures from our planet’s deep past,” as per a press release.
Sotheby’s will present it at auction on July 16.
Right Side Skull Detail/Matthew Sherman
Have a few million to spare to buy a dinosaur?
The Ceratosaurus nasicornis was first unearthed in 1996 at the famed Bone Cabin Quarry (West) in Wyoming. The fossil bed gained notoriety through the efforts of the American Museum of Natural History, which conducted extensive excavations from 1898 to 1905. Henry Fairfield Osborn, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the American Museum, called it “the greatest find of extinct animals made in a single locality in any part of the world.”
Hailing from one of the most significant dinosaur beds on Earth, archaeologists have only found three other Ceratosaurus in history. Cassandra Hatton, Vice Chairman, Science and Natural History, called the juvenile Ceratosaurus one of the “very finest dinosaurs” ever seen at auction.
As the second most complete skeleton in existence, the “beautifully mineralized” fossil bones give the rare object and piece of natural history a rich, grey-black color. Made up of 139 bone elements, the Ceratosaurus has “a remarkably complete and fully articulated skull.”
“The most delicate parts,” Sotheby’s continues, “have been well preserved, including its unique and distinctive nasal horn, elongate teeth, and row of bony armor running down its back and tail.” As a lethal predator, it boasts a unique anatomy that sets it apart from other theropods of the Late Jurassic, “suggesting it occupied a specialized ecological niche.”
At six feet tall, the “baby” dinosaur would have frightened most humans as a tall specimen. However, its adult counterparts would have soared to even greater heights, imbuing the skeleton with the thrill and fear these prehistoric beasts tend to inspire.
Juvenile specimen of Ceratosaurus nasicornis/ Matthew Sherman
A dinosaur from a pivotal moment in Earth’s history
Sotheby’s says the Ceratosaurus lived during the Kimmeridgian Stage of the Late Jurassic—a time of intense evolutionary activity, with warm climates, rising sea levels, and the slow breakup of the supercontinent Pangaea.
Subsequently, due to the shifting conditions, dinosaurs flourished in diverse habitats that the shifting conditions produced across North America, Europe, and parts of Africa, “allowing predators like Ceratosaurus and herbivores such as Stegosaurus and Apatosaurus to thrive,” as per the press release.
Not only will the lucky buyer purchase a rare dinosaur species, but one that lived at a fascinating moment in the planet’s history. Two of the dinosaurs they previously sold are currently on display at two major museums in the United States, so the distinctive and impressive Ceratosaurus nasicornis will most likely end up in a gallery that the general public can visit.