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Why Jurassic Park's Barbasol Can Sold for $250,000

In Jurassic Park, a can of shaving cream hides stolen dinosaur embryos and ends up lost in the mud. The real prop, machined so it actually opens, came out of the Planet Hollywood collection and sold for a quarter of a million dollars.

By the Expensive Explained team · · 3 min read

The short version

The can Dennis Nedry uses to smuggle embryos in Jurassic Park was built as a working hero prop, with a rotating base that gives access to seven labeled vials. It came out of the Planet Hollywood collection, and in March 2024 Heritage Auctions sold it for $250,000. That is more than twice the starting price of a new 2024 Porsche 911 Carrera.

A shaving can with a $250,000 secret

In March 2024, Heritage Auctions held Treasures from Planet Hollywood, a sale of film props and memorabilia gathered by the restaurant chain. It ran from March 20 to 24 and brought in more than $15.6 million. One of its stars was a can of Barbasol. Lot 90094 was catalogued as the hero dinosaur embryo cryogenic smuggling device used by Wayne Knight as Dennis Nedry in Jurassic Park (Universal, 1993), and it realized $250,000.

In the film, it is the most ordinary object on screen, and that is the point. A can of shaving cream is something nobody looks at twice, which is exactly why a character would use one to carry stolen goods.

Why a thief needed a can of Barbasol

In Jurassic Park, Lewis Dodgson of the rival company Biosyn hands Nedry a container disguised as a can of shaving cream, and Nedry uses it to smuggle stolen dinosaur embryos off the island. The screenplay did not name a brand. According to the film's production history, John Bell, one of its designers, browsed a drugstore and picked Barbasol for its distinctive design.

The plan fails. Nedry gets lost in a storm, crashes his jeep and is killed by a Dilophosaurus, and the can ends up in the mud. Screenwriter David Koepp has said he always assumed it was simply buried there. On screen, the embryos are lost for good. Off screen, the prop went on to a long second life.

What made this more than a dressed-up drugstore can

Heritage's description makes clear that this was a piece of engineering. It is built from milled metal, aluminum and plastic, stands 6.25 inches tall and has a rotating base with a rubber O-ring seal. In the story, the device keeps the embryos for 36 hours. The base turns to give access to seven labeled embryo vials. One is marked TR-1.024 and identified as Tyrannosaurus Rex; others carry codes Heritage reads as Velociraptor and Brachiosaurus.

Heritage's Brian Chanes summed it up before the sale: "It's hand-milled aluminium, a very sophisticated looking piece." That level of work is what separates a hero prop, made to be seen up close and handled by an actor, from simpler stand-ins. Collectors tend to pay the most for hero pieces because they are the versions built for the camera's closest look. The cooling was fiction, though: the description lists no refrigeration parts, just the metal body, the seal and the vials.

Condition tells its own story. The lot notes production and display wear, scuffing, oxidation on the metal parts, faded color and loosening labels on the vials, one vial missing its cap, and remnants of a clear yellowish liquid inside. For a film object, buyers tend to read that wear as part of its history rather than as damage.

From Planet Hollywood's collection to the auction block

Planet Hollywood, which opened its first restaurant in New York in 1991, spent decades assembling a collection of film props, displaying pieces in its locations around the world and keeping others in its archives. The Barbasol can came out of that collection. When it entered is not documented, but the display wear in the lot description suggests it spent at least some time on show.

It is also worth being precise about what was sold: a hero can from the film, not necessarily the only one. Paragon FX, which produced a licensed replica in 2023, says it was given access to an original hero prop kept in Universal's studio archives. Licensed replicas hold ten vials; the can Heritage sold holds seven.

Reading the $250,000

Heritage reports results as the price realized. In the same Planet Hollywood sale, the floating wood panel from Titanic finished at $575,000 at the hammer and was announced at $718,750, which is the hammer plus a 25 percent buyer's premium. If the Barbasol can followed the same convention, which is likely, the winning bid was about $200,000 and the premium brought the total to $250,000. While bidding was open, coverage of the sale listed the can at $25,000, so the result landed at ten times that figure.

For scale, the starting MSRP of a 2024 Porsche 911 Carrera coupe was $114,400, so the can sold for more than twice that. Even the 2024 911 Turbo S coupe, at $230,400 before options and fees, came in under $250,000. The comparison has limits, since some Porsches cost more, but it shows how far a well-documented hero prop can travel from what a can of shaving cream normally costs. Watch the 30-second version above.

Questions people ask

How much did the Jurassic Park Barbasol can sell for?

It realized $250,000 at Heritage Auctions' Treasures from Planet Hollywood sale in March 2024. Based on Heritage's convention in the same sale, that figure most likely includes a 25 percent buyer's premium.

Is the Barbasol can Heritage sold the only original from Jurassic Park?

Not necessarily. Heritage sold it as a hero prop, but Paragon FX says it worked from an original hero prop kept in Universal's archives to make its 2023 licensed replica. How many cans were made has not been documented.

Did the Jurassic Park Barbasol can really keep embryos cold?

No. Refrigeration was part of the story only. Heritage's description lists milled metal, aluminum, plastic, a rotating base with a rubber O-ring seal and seven vials, with no cooling component.

Sources

  1. Jurassic Park (Universal, 1993), Wayne Knight "Dennis Nedry" Hero Dinosaur Embryo Cryogenic Smuggling Device, lot 90094Heritage Auctions · 2024-03
  2. Pixel Scroll 3/29/24File 770 · 2024-03-29
  3. Treasures from Planet Hollywood bring more than $15.6 million in historic event at Heritage AuctionsArtDaily · 2024-03
  4. Heritage Auctions: Treasures from Planet HollywoodFilm Review Daily · 2024-03
  5. Incredible horror propsiHorror · 2024-03-16
  6. Jurassic Park (film)Wikipedia · 2026-10-31
  7. A tale of a Barbasol can: How the Jurassic Park McGuffin grew beyond David Koepp's intentionsSyfy Wire · 2020-06-19
  8. Material PursuitsJWC Media · 2024-03
  9. Jurassic Park Cryogenics Canister by Paragon FX GroupSideshow
  10. Jurassic Park shaving cream cryo can replicaSlashfilm · 2019-07-17
  11. 2024 Porsche 911 Carrera specs and pricesCars.com · 2024
  12. 2024 Porsche 911 Turbo S specs and pricesCars.com · 2024

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