Particle.news
Download on the App Store

Triceratops ‘Trey’ Heads to Joopiter Auction With $4.5–$5.5 Million Estimate

Joopiter’s debut fossil lot signals a market so hot that researchers fear losing access to key specimens.

Overview

  • Bidding runs March 17–31 on Joopiter, the online auction platform founded by Pharrell Williams.
  • Trey is Joopiter’s first fossil offering and is being shown by private appointment in Singapore through the end of March.
  • Discovered near Lusk, Wyoming, in 1993 and restored in Germany, the skeleton was on loan at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center from 1995 to 2023.
  • Recent headline sales include the $44.6 million Stegosaurus known as Apex and a juvenile dinosaur that topped $30 million, reinforcing intense collector demand.
  • Paleontologists warn that soaring prices can sideline museums and limit study access, even as some buyers place major fossils on long-term public loan.