Peter Benchley’s Personal Jaws Collection Heads to Auction With Poster, Spielberg-Gifted Shirt and More

Peter Benchley’s personal collection is heading to auction, giving Jaws collectors a rare chance to own material that came directly from the author whose novel became one of the most famous movies in Hollywood history. Willow Auction House will offer nearly 300 lots from Benchley’s personal collection on October 29 in an auction titled “The Peter Benchley Collection: Jaws, A Life of Writing, A Legacy of Stories.” The sale reaches well beyond Jaws, but some of its most notable pieces are tied directly to the 1975 film and Benchley’s role in creating the story that inspired it.

Among the highlights is Benchley’s own 1975 Jaws one-sheet movie poster, along with original production photographs and other Jaws memorabilia. The auction also includes an original Jaws T-shirt that director Steven Spielberg personally gave to Benchley, adding particularly strong provenance to an item connected to both the author and filmmaker behind the blockbuster.

Personal provenance runs throughout the sale. Rather than consisting of memorabilia assembled later by a collector, the material comes from Benchley’s own life and career, including the tools he used as a writer, books and research material, awards, personal effects and items tied to his years before and after Jaws became a global phenomenon.

The collection also includes Benchley’s personal typewriters, offering bidders a direct connection to his writing career. Benchley published Jaws in 1974, and the novel quickly became a bestseller before Spielberg’s film adaptation arrived the following year and permanently changed the cultural image of sharks.

Benchley’s life, however, extended far beyond the novel that made him famous. Before becoming a bestselling author, he worked as a speechwriter for President Lyndon B. Johnson, and the auction includes White House photographs, presentation pieces and other material connected to Johnson and First Lady Lady Bird Johnson. Some of those objects were displayed at the LBJ Presidential Library in 2025 as part of an exhibition examining Benchley’s path from the White House to ocean conservation.

His interest in history and collecting is represented by another group of unusual items, including a 13th-century French vellum Bible leaf, a royal decree signed by Philip II of Spain, documents associated with Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, and an early copy of The Massachusetts Spy.

The maritime side of Benchley’s life is another major part of the sale. He became an avid diver and conservationist, and the auction includes his diving equipment, a Henderson titanium wetsuit, shark teeth, fossils and archaeological artifacts recovered by Peter and Wendy Benchley, including objects associated with Bermuda shipwrecks. Marine artwork is also represented, including Christopher Blossom’s “Ship Allerton” and Thomas Hoyne’s “First and Saucy,” each carrying a pre-sale estimate of $6,000 to $8,000.

That part of the collection reflects an important chapter in Benchley’s life after Jaws. He eventually became concerned about the fear of sharks that followed the success of the book and movie and spent much of his later life advocating for shark protection and ocean conservation.

The auction also touches on the wider Benchley family legacy. Peter Benchley was the son of author and artist Nathaniel Benchley and grandson of writer and humorist Robert Benchley. Items in the sale include paintings by Nathaniel Benchley and an original pen-and-ink drawing of the family by caricaturist Al Hirschfeld.

Proceeds from the auction will benefit WildAid and Beneath the Sea, supporting marine conservation, education and exploration. The Peter Benchley Collection auction begins October 29 at 11 AM ET through Willow Auction House in Lincoln Park, New Jersey, with online bidding also available.