“Crew members and independent collectors have verified the authenticity of this item as a Mark English Forgery. Comes with a COA from Premiere Props”. Wow. I guess this is a new direction of this art market, filed under Sell At Any Cost: The Authenticated Fake Prop? As noted in my wordy titled preview of Premiere Props upcoming regularly scheduled auction (see “Premiere Props ‘Hollywood Auction Extravaganza X’ Catalog Online, Television & Movie Prop and Costume Sale Event June 15 (Plus An OPB Editorial Plea For Authentication)“, their authentication and lot descriptions, in my personal opinion, left a lot to be desired. I have no idea if anyone at Premiere Props reads the Original Prop Blog, but if “authenticating” a fake prop as fake and still offering it for sale is what they thought I had in mind with my public “plea for authentication”, they could not have been more wrong. There is zero benefit to selling forgeries back into the marketplace, in my opinion, and the idea of including a COA “authenticating” a fake as a fake makes my head spin. If the fake fooled Premiere Props, is it responsible for them to continue to facilitate the sale of a piece that is widely regarded as problematic for those of us who make efforts to keep such pieces out of the marketplace? How about someone takes a hammer to it instead?
When I published my article about their latest sale in late May, it was obvious to me (not a Star Trek expert) that many of the pieces from that franchise in their sale were not authentic, and with one e-mail to easily accessible experts, I confirmed that with their response (received a little over an hour later). Anyone could have done the same with Google and no knowledge of this art market.
My friend Don provides some history about his understanding of what happened more than a week later via an article published yesterday on his Wrath of Dhan site (see “PREMIERE PROPS PULLS $100K+ WORTH OF STAR TREK PIECES FROM AUCTION“).
But even pulling obvious, well-documented fakes from their sale… the sale must go on? If consignors hand you lemons, make lemonade?
So now we have a first in this art market – the open and notorious public sale offering of “authenticated” fake props, along with a COA certifying it… fake?
Premiere Props Hollywood Extravaganza X – Lot 147 “Star Trek (1966) Mark English (ME) Forgery Communicator”
Funny enough, the lot description is one of the longest and most substantive of any in this sale. For a fake piece.
The birth of an entirely new category within the Premiere Props auctions, which sadly enough, began years ago with the exclusive sale of material that all came directly from studios and other direct sources, prior to their decision to consign property from collectors and other non-direct sources.
In any event, it would be nice of Premiere Props could evolve to the point where they have experts review and authenticate the material for their sales prior to an auction, rather than having such experts reach out to them and point out the obvious fakes (gratis, for the good of the marketplace).
Jason DeBord