Nicolas Cage Paid $276,000 to Beat Leonardo DiCaprio to a Bizarre Treasure – Years Later, Its Dark Secret Led Him to Hand It Over for Free: Photos of the Lost Prize

Nicolas Cage once spent six figures securing a prize Leonardo DiCaprio also wanted, only for its history to catch up with him years later. Photos of the remarkable luxury item are waiting for readers at the end of the article.

In 2007, Nicolas Cage and Leonardo DiCaprio found themselves in an unusual bidding war, with both Hollywood stars competing by phone for an item that predated either actor's career by millions of years.

The prize was a 67-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus bataar skull from a close relative of Tyrannosaurus rex. Offered through Beverly Hills auction house I.M. Chait, the fossil attracted enough interest from the two actors to push its final price to $276,000.

Cage ultimately placed the winning bid, beating DiCaprio and adding the imposing skull to his collection. At the time, there was another distinction attached to the purchase — the skull was reportedly the largest of its kind ever put up for auction.

Cage also received a certificate of authenticity from the gallery, according to his publicist, Alex Schack. The fossil joined a list of expensive purchases associated with the actor during that period.

Evidence submitted by his former business manager, Samuel Levin, during a 2009 court case stated that the Hollywood star bought three homes and 22 cars, nine of which were Rolls-Royces, in the same year he acquired the skull.

As U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigated the origins of other fossils associated with Prokopi, questions inevitably turned to Cage's $276,000 skull.

The evidence also cited 47 purchases categorized as artwork and exotic items. However, the story behind Cage's prehistoric acquisition eventually became far more significant than the bidding battle that put it in his possession.

By October 2013, the skull had become connected to an investigation into the illegal trafficking of fossils. David Herskowitz, who had been director of I.M. Chait's natural history department when Cage made his purchase, said the auction house had obtained the specimen from commercial paleontologist Eric Prokopi.

"Nicolas Cage's specimen came from Prokopi," Herskowitz said. Prokopi had pleaded guilty to illegally importing fossils from Mongolia and China after authorities investigated his dealings.

He had been arrested in October 2012 following the sale of a large Tyrannosaurus bataar skeleton for $1 million and faced the possibility of as many as 17 years in prison. The case also drew attention to a wider fossil-smuggling problem.

Mongolia and China prohibited the commercial export of fossils discovered within their borders, but a black market had operated for years. Mongolia's Gobi Desert, home to the fossil-rich Nemegt Formation, was among the areas affected by looting.

Fossils taken from such sites could pass through middlemen before being smuggled abroad and eventually offered through auctions, fossil shows, antique fairs, or the internet. Martin Bell, the lead prosecutor in Prokopi's case, told the court that fossil trafficking "far exceeds" existing law-enforcement efforts.

As U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigated the origins of other fossils associated with Prokopi, questions inevitably turned to Cage's $276,000 skull. The actor, however, was not accused of wrongdoing.

Others viewed Cage's decision through the lens of his wealth and the amount he had originally spent.

According to Schack, the Department of Homeland Security first contacted Cage in July 2014 and informed him that the fossil might have been stolen. Investigators subsequently determined that the skull had been illegally removed from Mongolia.

The discovery left Cage with a costly possession he could no longer simply regard as another collector's piece. By December 2015, the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan had filed a civil forfeiture complaint seeking possession of the skull so it could be returned to Mongolia.

Although the complaint did not identify Cage by name as its owner, Schack confirmed that the actor had purchased the specimen from I.M. Chait in March 2007. Once authorities established that it had been illegally taken from Mongolia, Cage voluntarily agreed to surrender it.

The circumstances of that decision later prompted sharply different reactions on social media. Some focused on the fact that Cage had paid for the skull without knowing its illicit history. One person commented, "He deserves a refund."

Another person was even less convinced that surrendering the fossil was the outcome they would have chosen, typing, "He better than me. A actual t-Rex skull. Nah ima keep that. Years later to determine it was stolen. Nah they stole from him [sic]."

Others viewed Cage's decision through the lens of his wealth and the amount he had originally spent. "For those who don't know math 276,000 is 0.69% of Nicolas Cage's net net worth [sic]," one person shared.

"To put in perspective for you all if your net worth is $100,000 that's you paying $690 for a skull I'm sure he had no problem with giving less than 1% of his purchase back [sic]," they continued.

There was also praise for returning the fossil to its country of origin. One person said, "Glad he returned a national treasure." Yet the skull's fate after its return generated another question, with one person asking, "And how's Mongolia treating it?"

What began in 2007 as an extraordinary auction battle between two movie stars ultimately became part of a much larger investigation into the international trade in illegally removed fossils.

Cage had paid $276,000 to secure the ancient skull ahead of DiCaprio, but after authorities uncovered its history, he voluntarily gave up the prize so it could make its way back to Mongolia. Photos of the remarkable fossil can be found below.

A Look at the Prehistoric Prize Nicolas Cage Gave Up