Jurassic Park’s Most Important Prop Is Finally Going Up for Sale, and Collectors Are Already Battling in Early Bidding

Jurassic Park cemented its place in movie history the moment everyone saw a Tyrannosaur terrorize two children in a broken-down car. Long before that, the movie was marketed with a simple teaser showing miners working in the dust and dark and eventually coming across a small treasure: a piece of amber containing a single mosquito. Now, the screen-matched version of the prop used in the Spielberg classic is going to auction for the first time as part of Prop Store’s latest movie memorabilia auction. Despite the auction not opening until the end of the month, bidding has already hit the low-end estimate of $100,000, suggesting the rare item could easily surpass its high-end estimate of $200,000. This is staggering demand for the 30-year-old item, and it easily matches bids on other iconic pieces of movie history such as a Superman tunic and John Travolta’s white Saturday Night Fever suit.

The significance of the amber resin prop is hard to understate, as without it, there would be no Jurassic Park. Obviously, the creation of dinosaurs from fossilized mosquito blood is still the stuff of science fiction, but you get the idea. In the movie, it is explained that the entire concept of a dinosaur theme park would not have been possible if not for the simple piece of prehistoric DNA extracted from the mosquito. An infomercial played to Sam Neill’s Alan Grant and the other participants in the tour of the park explains that mosquitoes just like the one trapped in the amber would have sucked blood from several prehistoric beasts before landing on a tree and getting caught in the sticky resin. Without it, there would be no T. rex, no Velociraptors, and, as a result, no billion-dollar franchise that is still conquering the box office three decades after its debut.

Why the Amber Prop Is the Star of the Auction

Prop Store experts have called the amber prop one of the most important in this entire auction, a fact that is hard to argue with. What has elevated its appeal is its undeniable screen-matching, which has been possible thanks to the unique natural imperfections in the resin created for the movie. These fine details have allowed experts to confirm without doubt that the exact same prop is seen on screen in the first part of Jurassic Park. While there are often many duplicate items made for movie productions, with some never actually being used, having the provenance that this one comes with is what will end up driving its sale price even higher. It is also the first time this item has ever come up for sale, having been acquired directly from a member of the original Jurassic Park crew that worked on the film in the early 1990s.

Despite there only currently being two bids in the absentee bidding, the early interest and $100,000 level is a sign of how much interest there is in this piece. It is clear that among the superhero costumes, swords, daggers, hats and masks, this small but mighty prop is going to be one of the crowning pieces of the entire auction and should easily surpass all of its estimates. Prop Store auctions have notably attracted big money in the past, such as $300,000 being paid for Indiana Jones’ hat a few years ago, and with almost three weeks until the auction kicks off, there is plenty of time for this Jurassic Park relic to gain ground on some of those past sales. It will be sold alongside some other iconic articles collected from the last half a century of cinema, such as Michael Keaton’s Batman Returns costume, Jack Nicholson’s ax from The Shining, and Johnny Depp’s scissor-fingered gloves from Edward Scissorhands. The auction runs from August 26-29, 2026.