A near-complete Triceratops skeleton nicknamed “Trey” sold for $5.55 million via the online auction platform Joopiter, the latest example of dinosaur fossils commanding multimillion-dollar prices as wealthy collectors increasingly treat them as luxury assets and alternative investments.
The 66-million-year-old Triceratops, excavated in 1993 from Wyoming’s Lance Formation, had been on public display for nearly three decades at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center under a loan agreement. It was moved to a high-security vault in Singapore before the sale, which closed on March 31. Artnet News reported the final price, marking Joopiter’s first foray into the fossil market.
Joopiter, founded by musician and producer Pharrell Williams, positioned the sale as part of its focus on “culture-shaping” collectibles. Global head of sales Caitlin Donovan told media that owning a dinosaur taps into a universal childhood fascination.
The Trey sale fits a pattern of soaring prices for premium dinosaur specimens. In July 2025, a juvenile Ceratosaurus fetched a record $30.5 million at Sotheby’s New York after a bidding war, far exceeding its $4–6 million estimate. The New York Times reported the outcome.
Other headline sales include a Stegosaurus nicknamed “Apex,” bought for $44.6 million in 2024 by hedge-fund billionaire Kenneth C. Griffin and currently on loan to the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the T. rex “Stan,” acquired for $31.8 million in 2020 by Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism.
Rising concerns among paleontologists
The accelerating commercial market has drawn criticism from researchers who worry that scientifically important fossils are moving into private hands and may become inaccessible for study or public education. The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology has long opposed the sale of significant vertebrate fossils unless they end up in public institutions committed to perpetual curation. The SVP’s ethics statement underscores this position.
Steve Brusatte, a professor of paleontology at the University of Edinburgh, described the sums as “way outside the norm of the academic world,” noting that $30 million could fund decades of research. He expressed particular concern that specimens like Trey — seen by an estimated one million visitors during its museum residency — could disappear from public view.
Paul Barrett, head of fossil vertebrates at London’s Natural History Museum, acknowledged a more pragmatic view: commercial collectors have historically supplied major museum collections, and the field has long had a symbiotic relationship with the trade. However, he noted that rocketing prices for select specimens create new challenges.
Some high-profile fossils have remained accessible. Apex is on display at the American Museum of Natural History for at least four years under Griffin’s loan agreement, and Stan is exhibited at the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi.
Joopiter and the seller of Trey have expressed hope that the specimen could eventually find a home in a museum, though its future location remains unknown.
Neither Joopiter nor the major auction houses involved in recent sales immediately responded to requests for further comment. Paleontology organizations continue to monitor the trend as the market for dinosaur fossils shows no signs of slowing.
(Reporting by Reuters; additional reporting from auction records and paleontology organizations. No further comment was available from auction participants or major museums.)
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