Bidding for this lot will end on Wednesday, August 26th. The auction will begin at 9:30 AM (PDT) / 12:30 PM (EDT) / 5:30 PM (GMT) and lots are sold sequentially via live auctioneer; tune in to the live streaming broadcast on auction day to follow the pace. Note other lots in the auction may close on Thursday, August 27th or Friday, August 28th or Saturday, August 29th.
A mosquito in amber fossil screen-matched to the opening scene of Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park. In the sequence, Juanito Rostagno's (Miguel Sandoval) men uncovered a prehistoric mosquito perfectly fossilized in amber during lawyer Donald Gennaro's (Martin Ferrero) visit to the Mano de Dios amber mine in the Dominican Republic.
As Rostagno analyzed the fossil, he told Gennaro that he would never get Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) to agree to leave Montana (and help get insurance agents off Jurassic Park creator John Hammond's [Richard Attenborough] back) because "Grant's like me - he's a digger." Distinctive bubbling, the specific positioning of the mosquito inside, and patterning at the point at which the amber meets the rock in this fossil all screen-match to the complex shot in which Rostagno held the fossil up to the light of his men's helmets, with the camera racking focus from the kneeling Rostagno to the fossil itself in close-up.
The mosquito in amber was the central symbol of Hammond's enterprise, which used dinosaur DNA extracted from fossilized mosquitos to clone the creatures that filled Isla Nublar. The discovery in Mano de Dios, and the classically Spielbergian manner in which it was shot, established the history-making import of Jurassic Park - a fact doubly stressed by Hammond himself keeping a fossilized mosquito atop his signature cane throughout the film.
Among the most pioneering movies in cinema history, Jurassic Park grossed more than $914 million in its original theatrical release and became one of the 1990s' most imitated films. Following Academy Award® wins for its groundbreaking sound effects, sound editing, and visual effects, the film is today considered a modern classic and is permanently preserved in the National Film Registry for its significance to American culture.
The fossil in this lot is now coming to public auction for the first time. It is constructed from resin textured and painted to resemble amber encased in stone and features a mosquito, designed by production to appear prehistoric, embedded in the resin. This lot shows evidence of wear consistent with on-set use, handling, and age, including cracked resin and minor flaking paint. Dimensions: 4" x 6" x 2.5" (10 cm x 15 cm x 6.25 cm)
Estimate: $100,000 - 200,000This item comes with a Propstore Certificate of Authenticity.