Pharrell Williams’ auction platform JOOPITER is bringing two rare dinosaur skeletons to the global market, offering collectors the chance to own fossils dating back around 76 million years.
The auction, titled “Hank & Koda: Two Rare Maiasaura Skeletons,” features two specimens of Maiasaura peeblesorum, a duck-billed plant-eating dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period.
The fossils are being offered as two separate lots and are expected to generate as much as $2 million combined. The sale includes an adult dinosaur and a juvenile specimen, giving buyers the unusual opportunity to see two different stages of the same species’ development.
The species is particularly important to paleontologists because Maiasaura provided some of the earliest scientific evidence that dinosaurs cared for their young. The name itself is commonly associated with the idea of a “good mother lizard,” reflecting evidence connected to parental care.
Both skeletons were excavated from the Linster Quarry in Montana’s Two Medicine Formation, a region known for important dinosaur discoveries from the Late Cretaceous period.
The adult specimen, named “Koda,” is a composite mount measuring approximately 20.7 feet long and 8.5 feet tall. Around 68% of the bones in the mounted skeleton are original fossil material.
Koda carries an estimated value of between $900,000 and $1.2 million, making it the more expensive of the two lots.
The younger specimen, “Hank,” measures approximately 13 feet long and 6.3 feet tall. It contains about 62% original fossil material and has an estimated value of between $600,000 and $800,000.
Because the original fossils do not make up every part of the mounted skeletons, additional components were used to complete the displays. Areas where original fossil material was unavailable were recreated using materials including 3D-printed parts and epoxy resin.
Both mounts were prepared under the scientific direction of Dr. Frédéric Lacombat, with the finished displays designed to show the dinosaurs in a way that highlights their physical differences.
Placed next to each other, Hank and Koda provide a visual comparison between a young Maiasaura and an adult. Their differences can be seen in areas such as skull development, body proportions and how their bodies would have moved as they grew.
That makes the auction more than simply a sale of two prehistoric skeletons. Together, the specimens offer a physical look at how members of the same dinosaur species changed throughout their lives.
The fossils also give collectors an opportunity to own specimens connected to an important chapter in the study of dinosaur behavior, particularly the evidence surrounding how Maiasaura raised and cared for its young.
The JOOPITER auction opened globally on September 22, 2026, giving bidders from around the world access to the sale.
Bidding will remain open until October 6, 2026, with the auction taking place exclusively through JOOPITER.
If both fossils reach the upper end of their estimates, the two skeletons could generate up to $2 million combined, placing the sale among the more notable recent offerings of dinosaur fossils to private collectors.
