Jodi's auction display raises questions about access to fossils
· BehindLines newsroom
A dinosaur skeleton on display in New York is prompting a discussion that goes beyond its price. Nicknamed Jodi, the specimen is due to be offered by Sotheby's on 27 October. The catalogue identifies it as Nanotyrannus cf. lancensis, from Montana's Hell Creek Formation, dating to around 67 million years ago. Its announced estimate is between six and nine million dollars: this is not a sale result.
A specimen with a different earlier name
Artnet recalls that the same skeleton was presented in 2023 as Chomper, described as a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex. The change in identification illustrates how knowledge and the commercial presentation of a palaeontological object can evolve.
The current exhibition is confirmed both by Sotheby's catalogue and by Associated Press, which covered its presentation on 13 October. The auction is still ahead; these pages identify neither a buyer nor a final destination.
Seeing a fossil and being able to study it
AP reports opposition from the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology to private sales of important specimens, citing public and scientific access. The auction house, for its part, defends the contribution of private excavators.
These positions invite a distinction between a temporary exhibition, ownership and lasting access. A skeleton visible in an auction room today can be admired without that visibility revealing the conditions under which it could be consulted after the sale. For a visitor, the event is cultural; for a researcher, its value also depends on being able to return to the specimen and compare observations.
The financial estimate alone therefore does not measure its scientific value. Jodi's future remains a question to follow after the auction, rather than a conclusion to draw from its current display.