Profiles in History 31 was held yesterday and today, with the majority props being auctioned today at Profiles in Calabasas Hills, over the Internet via eBay Live Auctions, and by phone.
Overall, it appears to have been a big success, going by the prices realized on the offerings.
The cover-theme pieces – the Stan Winston dinosaurs from the Jurassic Park films, did very, very well by my own personal standards, with nearly all selling at very high prices. I questioned whether the marketplace could absorb so many of these in one auction, compounded by the competition offered by Guernsey’s in their “Pugliese Pop Culture” auction two weeks ago, in my article, “Competing Original Prop Auction Events: The Ides of March?“.
Of the five figure Jurassic Park pieces, it appears only one went unsold, going by eBay auction results, which is quite remarkable. The one that realized the highest price was the Hydraulic Velociraptor at $100,000 (plus Buyer’s Premium), with six bids. It is also worth nothing that Stan Winston Studios is donating a portion of the proceeds from their sales to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), so gratitude to them for the consideration.
Also hitting the $100,000 mark were the Leaping Alien Warrior from Aliens (also from Stan Winston Studios) and the Ming the Merciless Cape from Flash Gordon. Interesting that the Ming cape sold for $100,000 (plus BP), considering it was listed on eBay from December 27 to January 3, with a starting bid of $35,000, and it went unsold (see eBay: “Original Costume – Ming The Merciless – Flash Gordon”, Item #120203161009).
eBay Auction Archive: eBay Listing jomms “Original Costume – Ming The Merciless – Flash Gordon”
The big winner of the auction overall was the King Kong Six-Sheet Poster, realizing $300,000 (plus BP).
The highest valued piece that went unsold, in spite of mention in most of the publicity opportunities related to the event, was the Thalberg Memorial Award, which had an opening bid amount of $150,000 and range of $150,000-$1,000,000.
Also referenced in my “Ides of March” article was a question as to the results of the Michael Keaton Batman Returns costumes consigned to both Guernsey’s and Profiles.
The Profiles Batman (Lot 938) opened at $60,000 and realized $90,000 (plus BP) while the Guernsey’s piece (Lot 82) had an estimate of $75,000-$100,000 and only realized $35,000 (plus BP). Very interesting, and I think the result underscores the fact that props consigned with Profiles consistently perform better when compared with auction houses that sell a broader range of collectibles. [Edit: It was just pointed out to me that Guernsey’s has recently posted the Top 25 Results on their site, which does not include the Batman costume; so while the high bid was $35,000, it does not appears to have met the reserve]
Other items that performed very well (prices before BP) include the Battlestar Galactica Complete Cylon Costume at $55,000, the Danny DeVito Penguin Display Study from Batman Returns at $42,500, two X-Men Suits realizing $37,500 each as well as a Galaxy Quest Thermian and Fifth Element assortment at the same price.
Some results surprising to me were the Han Solo blaster components (essentially unused “greeblies” on a replica) for $20,000 and a Declaration of Independence from National Treasure for $17,000.
Several pieces in the “just under $10,000” category did not sell, but are props/costumes that we have all seen time and again cycling through the marketplace.
Overall, given the competition from Guernsey’s just weeks ago and the state of the economy, I would imagine PiH must be very pleased with the results. It seems the higher end pieces performed better overall compared with the $5,000 or less set that shows a number of unsold pieces, scanning through the eBay results. I think this illustrates the fact that the higher end, recognizable pieces are really what attracts collector dollars.
Jason De Bord