Today Christie’s has withdrawn Lot 136 from their upcoming Sale #5446, a prop attributed to Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) and described as a “prototype Imperial Stormtrooper’s helmet“.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 In the auction description, Andrew Ainsworth was named as the source of provenance for the prop withdrawn from the current Christie’s sale.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…]
Search Results for: opb
Julien’s Auctions ‘Icons and Idols’ Movie Prop Guns Supplemental: James Bond 007’s Walther PPK from “Licence to Kill”, Al Pacino’s Colt from Michael Mann’s “Heat”, Pam Grier’s .38 Detective Special from Quentin Tarantino’s “Jackie Brown” and More
Since I have been publishing the Original Prop Blog for about six and a half years as a free resource to the public, I thought I would add one article (about of about 1,645 to date) to make note of and promote a few of my own auction consignments in the upcoming Julien’s Auctions “Icons and Idols” sale taking place in Beverly Hills on November 8th, 9th, and 10th. Items from my personal collection included in this sale include six movie prop pistols: a Walther PPK used by Timothy Dalton as James Bond in Licence To Kill, a Colt pistol used by Al Pacino in Michael Mann’s Heat, the .38 Detective Special pistol used by both Pam Grier and Robert Forester in Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown, a customized pistol used by Bridget Fonda in Point Of No Return, a Winchester shotgun used by Juliette Lewis In Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers, and a Glock 17 pistol used by Matt Damon as Jason Bourne in The Bourne Ultimatum. [Read more…]
Premiere Props Does Soft Launch of New “MovieProps DNA (MPDNA)” Authentication System with DNA Ink and “Panel of Industry Experts”
As is their usual procedure, Premiere Props has put up a portion of the lots for their upcoming sale (Hollywood Extravaganza XI on September 28-29) with online bidding partner iCollector, though with these lots each includes boilerplate information about authentication that has not been part of past auctions. Back in May, I made a public and literal plea for Premiere Props to put a real and substantive effort into authentication of their consignor-based auction material, and whether or not it is merely coincidental, it appears that they are doing just that starting with this upcoming auction, with “a panel of industry experts not affiliated with Premiere Props” called MovieProps DNA (MPDNA). While the “soft launch” of these changes raises many questions (which I will outline below), it is certain a significant step in the right direction. [Read more…]
Premiere Props Now In Business Of Selling “Authenticated” Forgery, Along With Premiere Props COA? (Star Trek Mark English Communicator)
“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? [Read more…]
Profiles in History The Dreier Collection Movie Prop Auction “Apples to Apples” Sale Comparison: After Sale List, “Peer Review” Update, Props as Investment?
Since much of The Dreier Collection that is being sold at auction through Profiles in History (beginning with their Part 1 sale having concluded today) was originally purchased at auction through Profiles in History, I thought that it would be interesting to compare some of the lots with their original hammer price (sans Buyer’s Premium) against the new sale price from the new auction. [NOTE: some updates made on 7/30 as marked and noted below] [Read more…]
Profiles in History Sells ‘Captain America’ Hero Costume for a Quarter of a Million Dollars… Revenge of the “Hype Premium”? Alternate Explanation?
It would appear that auction house Profiles in History had an unbelievable success with their Captain America: The First Avenger Auction event this past weekend, on behalf of Marvel Studios. The stand out single sale, of course, was “Lot #154 Captain Amerca complete hero suit“, which sold for $233,700 ($190,000 hammer plus $43,700 Buyer’s Premium). Over a quarter of a million dollars for one of presumably multiple copies of a costume from a movie that was released nine months ago. I am not easily surprised by anything in this art market, but this I find astounding and shocking. And my first thought immediately went to a concept discussed on this site in the past – the “Hype Premium” – but even that cannot come close to explaining this auction result.
Announcement: The Rock Subculture Journal
As I mentioned in my Original Prop Blog Five Year Anniversary article published a few days ago, one of the projects I have been working on is a new website for music. Today, this site has launched as the Rock Subculture Journal, which can be found at: www.RockSubculture.com. My objective is to publish articles about collecting original rock and pop music memorabilia (much as I do here with television and movie props and costumes), but also to publish reviews, tips, news, and other content about the rock music culture and events. [Read more…]
Two Pairs of ‘Wizard of Oz’ Ruby Slippers In The News… AMPAS “Academy Museum of Motion Pictures”, Smithsonian’s “National Museum of American History”
Two big stories have been making news in the mainstream media in recent days, with regards to two different pairs of original ruby slippers from ‘The Wizard of Oz’ – one purchased for the ‘in the works’ Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences “Academy Museum of Motion Pictures”; the other going off display at the Smithsonian for conservation and an eventual “American Stories” exhibit at their “National Museum of American History”.