Montana rancher’s rare Nanotyrannus fossil goes on display ahead of $9M auction

A dinosaur skeleton discovered by Montana rancher Jodi Pierson on her family’s land in 2019 is now on public display at Sotheby’s in New York ahead of an auction on October 27. Nicknamed “Jodi” after its discoverer, the mounted Nanotyrannus skeleton is nearly 70 percent complete, making it one of only three such skeletons known to science. Sotheby’s has given the fossil a pre-sale estimate of $6 million to $9 million.The specimen is not a Tyrannosaurus rex, but a smaller and nimbler relative that lived roughly 67 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period. It was found in Montana’s Hell Creek Formation in Garfield County, near Jordan, and is being offered as the finest and most complete Nanotyrannus skeleton currently available.A discovery on a family ranchPierson spotted the fossil weathering out of a hillside on land her family had owned for decades. The site lies about eight miles from the famous “Dueling Dinosaurs” dig site, an area known for exceptionally preserved Late Cretaceous fossils.The dinosaur was named after Pierson, giving the fossil a personal connection to the Montana landscape where it was found. Sotheby’s says the specimen comes from the Hell Creek Forma...