Nicolas Cage famously outbid Leonardo DiCaprio to purchase a massive artifact, only to return it. What was it?

The Fossil That Left Cage’s Collection

The object was a dinosaur skull: a fossil from a Tarbosaurus bataar, a close relative of Tyrannosaurus rex that lived in what is now Mongolia. Cage bought it at auction in 2007, reportedly beating Leonardo DiCaprio’s bid. At the time, it was presented as a rare collectible; its path out of Mongolia had not been properly established.

Why It Had to Go Back

The key issue was provenance—the documented history of an object’s ownership and movement. Investigators later concluded that the skull had been taken from Mongolia and brought into the United States illegally. Because Mongolia’s fossil heritage is protected, a private auction purchase could not make the fossil’s export lawful.

Cage agreed to return the skull after U.S. authorities contacted him. The decision turned the purchase into a striking example of how an auction can transfer possession without settling whether an artifact was legally removed from its country of origin. The winning bid secured the skull for a time, but it could not erase the trail that led back to Mongolia.