I was interviewed by The Telegraph back in July of last year, for a feature which was published in the UK newspaper today about collecting original movie props and costumes from Star Wars. In addition to myself, a who’s who of Star Wars collectors are featured in the piece, including Stephen Lane of Prop Store, legendary collector Gus Lopez, and Steve Sansweet of Rancho Obi-Wan, as well as Academy Award-winning set director Roger Christian. [Read more…]
Colin Cantwell, who has an incredible career in science and the arts, will be doing an exclusive meet and greet at Julien’s Auctions on Friday, December 5th from 1:30 to 3:00. Colin Cantwell famously made the first prototype models for George Lucas back in 1974/1975; the first realizations for the X-Wing Fighter, the Y-Wing Fighter, the Tie Fighter, the Star Destroyer, the Death Star, the Landspeeder, the Sandcrawler, and the Millennium Falcon, as well as the T-16 Skyhopper. His original, never before seen concept artwork from 1974/1975 will be up for auction at Julien’s Auctions on Saturday, December 6th at 10 AM, as well as other artifacts from his work on 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Omnimax/IMAX, Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, and WarGames, as well as the mission plans from his work with NASA and CBS on the Apollo XI moon landing mission in 1969. At 82 years old, this is Mr. Cantwell’s first meet and greet and autograph signing, so a very rare opportunity to meet a legend in classic science fiction film and television. [Read more…]
Colin Cantwell is a dreamer. However, he’s is one of those rare individuals who is not content to merely dream, but to imagine how to make dreams a reality, and takes action to make things happen. And if the tool or method that he requires does not exist, he will invent it. He is about thinking up possibilities that others would find… impossible. He is also quite modest, regardless of his incredible accomplishments across a broad spectrum of disciplines. He seems to be entirely self-motivated and has an internal engine driving him to achieve the results that bring his dreams to life. My other observation, through my conversations with him at his home in Colorado some months ago, is that he is not only brilliant, but he is unrestrained by the divisions and categorizations that frame the lives of most of the rest of us. Like the great Leonardo da Vinci, Colin Cantwell is gifted with a great diversity of talents, as a scientist, inventor, artist, special and computer effects wizard, architect, engineer, and I’m sure a number of other abilities. In my opinion, he is one of our great national treasures that “we” didn’t know about. He played a significant role in Star Wars: A New Hope, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Omnimax/IMAX, Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, and WarGames, working with some of our greatest film auteurs like George Lucas, Stanley Kubrick, and Steven Spielberg. He worked with NASA and CBS on the Apollo XI moon landing mission. He even won over “the greatest architect of all-time”, Frank Lloyd Wright. And at 82 years of age, he continues to work on his life achievements; with his concept of Cosmic Biodesics, only now is the rest of the world catching up to his ideas. [Read more…]
This is an update to the article published on Monday (see “Christie’s Withdraws “Prototype” Star Wars Stormtrooper Prop Helmet with Andrew Ainsworth Provenance from Upcoming Auction“). As mentioned in that prior article, unfortunately, no images were provided of the sides and back of the helmet. A friend in the UK previewed the upcoming Christie’s auction, and took photos of the “prototype” Storwtrooper prop helmet, which has since been withdrawn from their sale (#5446). These additional images are important, in that the single image provided in the online lot description/catalog only included one “straight on” style image which did not show whether the lower, back side of the helmet had the “ribbed” decoration (a detail that most other “prototypes” have shared). [Read more…]
Today Christie’s has withdrawn Lot 136 from their upcoming Sale #5446, a prop attributed to Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) and described as a “prototype Imperial Stormtrooper’s helmet“. There has been ongoing public debate and controversy over movie prop Stormtrooper helmets trading for sale in the marketplace for years, and some of this debate and discussion intersected the legal battles between Lucasfilm and Andrew Ainsworth. In the auction description, Andrew Ainsworth was named as the source of provenance for the prop withdrawn from the current Christie’s sale. [Read more…]
I am in London currently, and had an opportunity to drop by the fantastic new “Bond in Motion” exhibit at London Film Museum in Covent Garden. The brilliant exhibition features cars used in James Bond films over the past 50 years, as well as some key movie props and costumes from the 007 franchise. I’ve always been a huge fan of London Film Museum and their mission, and as always they have put together a great collection of film memorabilia in a classy and artful way – they are really the best in the business when it comes to displaying pop culture artifacts. [Read more…]
On the heels of their “Trilogy Collection” auction of Lord of the Rings material late last year, next month Julien’s Auctions will feature the best piece from Peter Jackson’s Academy Award-winning franchise yet: a screen-used hero Gimli double-headed axe, from the personal collection of John Rhys-Davies. This piece was given to Rhys-Davies on the last day of filming by Peter Jackson himself. The hero axe was used in The Two Towers. Julien’s Auctions full catalog for this sale will be debuting next week (see Hollywood Legends). [Read more…]
I recently obtained scans of historic photos taken at the Lucasfilm Archives at Skywalker Ranch circa 1996/1997, depicting original props, costumes, models, and other assets from the original Star Wars trilogy (A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi) as well as the Indiana Jones franchise (Raiders of the Lost Ark , Temple of Doom, and The Last Crusade). [Read more…]