Blacksparrow is hosting an auction for the David Fincher film starring Daniel Craig, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, which will conclude on September 12th. All items will start at $5 with no reserve. Per Blacksparrow, all items come directly from the production studio. [Read more…]
Local mainstream media outlets in Youngstown, Ohio are reporting on “what investigators say is the biggest case of domestic fraud in the history of the online auction site eBay“. Of course, sports memorabilia is the fraud that was targeted, not entertainment memorabilia… the story by WFMJ states that the “alleged enterprise involving phony autographs on sports memorabilia… cheated 25,000 people out of more than $2-million dollars”. Hopefully, someday, law enforcement will investigate the long term eBay dealers that have been selling common antiques like plates and telephones and ashtrays attributed to classic television shows and movies (which, like the fake sports memorabilia with forged autographs, include worthless COAs from companies with the worst reputations in this art market). [Read more…]
Ewbank’s in the UK are holding their next Entertainment & Memorabilia auction now, with their online catalog publishing and bidding concluding on September 3rd. A mix of film, television, and rock and roll, though there are many lots, the original props and costumes from film and television are few and far between – much of the offerings can be classified as general collectibles. [Read more…]
The New York Daily News continues to take the lead in the mainstream media on the story about “disgraced sports memorabilia pioneer” Bill Mastro, Founder and CEO of Mastro Auctions, which shut down in 2009 during the FBI investigation. In the ongoing saga, he plead guilty to shill bidding and mail fraud and admitted to trimming/altering a high value trading card to increase it’s value. U.S. District Judge Ronald A. Guzman sentenced Mastro to 20 months in prison; NY Daily News reports the judge was “troubled by the fact that Mastro had destroyed bidding records after learning the FBI had launched an investigation into fraud…“. [Read more…]
Prop Store’s second annual Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction will be held at the Odeon BFI IMAX in Waterloo, London on September 23rd. The live event will feature more than 450 lots of props, costumes and other film and television memorabilia. The catalog is due out on September 26th, and there will be a two week long exhibition leading up to the auction. [Read more…]
Yesterday, Heritage Auctions announced their October sale event, “Stallone – The Collection”, which garnered a lot of mainstream media coverage and interest. Strangely, the main marketing piece published was a bizarre, low budget (no budget?) video, which entailed not much more than following Sylvester Stallone around with a video camera (or maybe mobile phone shooting video?) as he seemingly pulls items out of wooden crates at random. Accompanied by bad elevator music, there is no interview or narration or questions or presentation by anyone from Heritage, as they stand around watching him indiscriminately look for pieces to hold up for the camera and come up with anecdotes to fill the silence amid the unidentified, bored-looking spectators surrounding him. I guess some might categorize it as “better than nothing”, but it certainly doesn’t do justice to one of the biggest box office icons of all-time. [Read more…]
Below is the latest updated calendar for upcoming original movie and television prop, wardrobe, and memorabilia auction events. Please contact me if you are aware of any coming events of interest to collectors. Please also note that I update changes/additions to the calendar until the next update, in order to maintain as up to date as possible. [Read more…]
Official Pix is offering their first signing opportunity to get autographs and personalized sketches from Colin Cantwell. At 82 years old today, Colin Cantwell famously made the first prototype models for the first Star Wars films 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 that Mark Hamill is seen using in the final cut of the film. Prior to building these prototype models, Colin created original full color artwork as well as sketches based on his discussions with George Lucas in 1974, and was one of the very first artists to work on Star Wars. I worked with Mr. Cantwell in 2014, helping him to bring some rare memorabilia to auction with Julien’s Auctions as well as recording a number of video interview with him about his work in and out of the film and television industries (see all Original Prop Blog articles about Colin Cantwell here: LINK). [Read more…]