This Famous Actor Spent $276,000 On A Stolen Dinosaur Skull

The purchase of a dinosaur skull may sound unusual, but it was one of many lavish purchases made by Nicolas Cage — a Hollywood actor who, according to CNBC, spent through a $150 million fortune. Unsurprisingly, Cage's quirky skull acquisition appeared in listings of the most expensive purchases by a celebrity, alongside his $150,000 spent on a pet octopus that he claimed improved his acting.

In March 2007, he and actor Leonardo DiCaprio fiercely bid against each other for the dinosaur skull, though Cage placed his bids anonymously by phone. Cage's winning bid of $276,000 sealed the deal at the I.M. Chait Gallery/Auctioneers in Los Angeles, where he also received a certificate of authenticity for the purchase. This skull came from a Tyrannosaurus bataar, a close Asian relative of the massive, meat-eating Tyrannosaurus rex, estimated to be 67 million years old. While all dinosaur fossils are rare, those from carnivores are especially scarce, which can make them even more valuable. 

Cage, however, only got to enjoy his purchase for seven years before being contacted by the Department of Homeland Security with bad news. The skull, discovered in Mongolia's Gobi Desert, was illegally smuggled out of that country, which meant that Cage's purchase was null and void. Effectively, he had paid about $40,000 per year to basically "rent" the skull before having to give it back.

Mongolian law requires all fossils found within its borders to become government property, making export without express permission illegal. To get through U.S. Customs, Cage's purchased skull was shipped in a container falsely labeled as containing fossil stone fragments. The United States government, as part of a broader investigation — which included the government returning two Tyrannosaurus bataar skeletons to Mongolia in July 2014 – identified Cage's dinosaur skull as one illegally brought into the country. On December 16, 2015, the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced that an unnamed person had agreed to forfeit the skull. Cage's publicist later confirmed Cage was the buyer.

Although he was in possession of an illegal item, this doesn't qualify as one of the financial crimes perpetrated by celebrities. In fact, he was not charged with any wrongdoing, and neither was the gallery. In a 2022 interview with NME, Cage stated that he still hadn't gotten his money refunded from the auction house, and he wasn't happy about that. While Cage's financial story may take further twists, it already highlights the strange ways that people can go broke. Adding to the evidence of Cage's quirky choices, other unusual items that he's spent his money on included a two-headed snake, shrunken pygmy heads, and a pyramid-shaped tombstone.