‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ Fertility Idols In The Marketplace Update 2013

With their latest “Entertainment Memorabilia” sale event in Knightsbridge on July 3rd, Bonhams is offering for public sale a second fertility idol attributed to use in Raiders of the Lost Ark with paperwork from industry veteran Kit West.  Due to public interest in discussing iconic props from the Indiana Jones films, and confusion in the marketplace with regards to the provenance and authentication of such pieces, I thought it appropriate to update my ongoing series of articles on the topic with the new information and photos (see: Raiders of the Lost Ark Fertility Idols In The Marketplace). Read more

Bonhams ‘Entertainment Memorabilia’ Auction to be Held in Knightsbridge, London on July 3rd, Catalog Available Online

Bonhams will be holding their next “Entertainment Memorabilia” (auction 20771) sale event in Knightsbridge on July 3rd. This sale includes a mix of film/television as well as music related memorabilia, with a total of 399 lots. Read more

Revisiting Ellis Props & Graphics – Certificates of Authenticity (COAs) Assigned to TV and Movie Props, Set Pieces, & Costumes Circulating in the Marketplace

For reasons unknown to me, I continue to receive communications from recent buyers of memorabilia attributed to film and television productions, who believe I have something to do with various eBay sellers and/or Ellis Props (see article from one month ago today, “NOTICE: Original Prop Blog Does Not/Will Not Supply Props to Dealers “jnsmcmahan”, “jsnent”, John Tarter, Billie Null, Mark Sullivan, L.A. Prop & Wardrobe, Hollywood Prop Supply, Studio West Prop, Ellis Props, et al“).  In any event, with one of these more recent contacts, I asked the buyer of one of these pieces to send me a photo of the Certificate of Authenticity (COA) supplied with the item purchased (in this case the COA provided was one that originally appears to be from Ellis Props).  A long time trusted collector in the field was kind enough to forward to me some images of confirmed legitimate examples of Ellis Props COAs obtained during the sales/liquidation circa ’99/’00, and that COA is very different from the one just obtained by a buyer from a piece purchased on eBay.  Read more

eBay Auction: “Jurassic Park Cryocan SCREEN-USED PROP Original COA” for $5,000 is “NOT A REPLICA” [UPDATE: Shades of Land Shark?]

This is an update to the article published about 24 hours ago (see “eBay Auction: “Jurassic Park Cryocan SCREEN-USED PROP Original COA” for $5,000 is “NOT A REPLICA”“), in which an eBay dealer, ridaeb, offered for public sale a “Jurassic Park Cryocan SCREEN-USED PROP Original” for $5,000…  using the same photo of a prop that is clearly identified as a fan made replica/reproduction on another site, YourProps.  Well, the auction was canceled/withdrawn (as well as all evidence of it, apart from my archive in the prior article).  Then, earlier today, it was relisted at the same price, with the same description, with another photo taken from YourProps.  That was canceled/withdrawn… and it appears yet again with a third photo from the website Jurassic Park Terror – and the photo depicts… another Rylo-made replica prop. Read more

eBay Auction: “Jurassic Park Cryocan SCREEN-USED PROP Original COA” for $5,000 is “NOT A REPLICA”

A friend of mine last night pointed me to an eBay auction, that is much like many of listings in the “Entertainment Memorabilia > Movie Memorabilia > Props > Originals” category on eBay… it features claims of an original prop, and absolutely nothing is done to demonstrate it as such and validate the marketing claims.  In addition with this one – a “Jurassic Park Cryocan SCREEN-USED PROP Original”, offered for sale by ridaeb, this “original” prop offered for sale to the public for $5,000…  uses the same photo of a prop that is clearly identified as a fan made replica/reproduction on another site (and the eBay version of the photo has the watermark seen on YourProps cropped out). Read more

The Marilyn Monroe Collection Blog: New Evidence “The Seven Year Itch” Profiles in History Subway Dress Altered for “Bachelor Flat”?

This morning Scott Fortner published a substantive update to his article posted on Friday, with very compelling and extensive analysis of the dress(es) worn by Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch (1955).  The questions originally raised by Scott has led to a number of significant revelations about the famous dress, one of which was sold last weekend by Profiles in History in their Debbie Reynolds auction event. Read more

The Marilyn Monroe Collection Blog Asks: “Was It THE Dress?” (Profiles in History’s Debbie Reynolds Auction)

Over the past week, the public have been reacting to the top piece sold at auction in the Debbie Reynolds sale held by Profiles in History last weekend, with the famous “subway dress” attributed to use by Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch (1955) breaking all records and realizing $4.6 million dollars (amounting to as much as $5,658,000 with fees, depending on method of bidding and payment).  Scott Fortner, who publishes articles on his Marilyn Monroe Collection blog and was in attendance at the event, this morning published an article posing some questions about the dress, based on his analysis of images from a variety of sources. Read more

Building on the Original Prop Lexicon: “Anti-Provenance”

I’ve found that there are many concepts in the original prop hobby for which words do not exist.  Having words to use with specific and unique meaning are powerful tools, and when there are none available that fit the need, putting together a new word with hopes it may be adopted can be productive.  In this case, a term is needed to describe an instance in which the source or an entity in the chain of ownership of a prop, costume, or other artifact has a distinctive and negative impact on the authentication of such a piece.  The word I plan to use to describe such a circumstance is “anti-provenance”. Read more

Superman Costumes in the Marketplace: February 2009, Part 2

This article continues coverage of Superman costumes and costume components offered for sale publicly in the marketplace attributed to use in the Superman films of the 70s-80s starring Christopher Reeve and characterized as “original” and “authentic”. Read more

“ComicLink”/”Super Museum” Superman Costume: Auction Outcome Update

Tonight the auction for the Superman costume offered for sale at public auction by “ComicLink.com” with the Letter of Authenticity from Jim Hambrick of the Super Museum ended with 33 bids for a price realized of $3,600, though the unstated reserve was not met.  Read more

Next Page »