Movie Prop Collecting with Jason DeBord's Original Prop Blog Film & TV Prop, Costume, Hollywood Memorablia Pop Culture Resource

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Review of First Prop Store Live Auction and Profiles in History’s Hollywood Auction 65, 67, 68, The Expendables

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The past week has been a significant one for the original television and movie prop, wardrobe, and asset art market, with two of the biggest dealers in the business having their own live auction events.  This marked the first big live auction for Prop Store, which held it’s “Auction of Film & Television Artefacts” on the 16th, and Profiles in History had a multi-day event for their “Hollywood Auction 65” and their Expendables Auction (“Hollywood Auction 67 & 68” – yes, the naming/numbering is confusing… see prior article).  With over 2,600 lots offered for sale collectively, it provides an opportunity for some analysis of each sale on its own merits as well as comparing and contrasting the different companies and their approach with the marketplace. [Read more…]

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Profiles in History ‘Hollywood Auction 65′ TV & Movie Prop Catalog Available Online for Sale Event October 17-20

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Profiles in History’s latest auction catalog, “Hollywood Auction 65”, is now available in print as well as online, via their official site. This sale is scheduled for October 17th-20th at their Calabasas Hills facility.  While with their last big Hollywood Auction sale they seemed to change course on their reserves/estimates strategy on much of the catalog, and steered away from the hopeful jackpot estimates that have plagued their sales more and more in the past few years, that old philosophy is still somewhat present with this sale (see Gilligan’s Island costume with a $30,000-$50,000 estimate), though on balance, things seem to be more reasonable than not, relatively speaking.  But they continue to lead the industry with phonebook-sized catalogs, this one weighing in at 630 pages, with a mix of new material and material that has been up for auction in past sales (some many times). [Read more…]

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San Diego Comic-Con 2014: DC Entertainment’s 75th Anniversary of Batman Props and Costumes at Exhibitor Booth (#SDCC)

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This is part of my ongoing coverage of San Diego Comic-Con 2014. As has been the case for several years, DC Entertainment has put together an amazing collection of original props and costumes within their exhibitor space at Comic-Con, and this one might be the best yet, with costumes and props from all of the various Batman films, all to celebrate 75 years of the Caped Crusader.  The outside of the case holding cowls from the different movies reads, “The Batman Film Anthology: 1989-1997”. [Read more…]

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Profiles in History ‘Hollywood Auction 62′ TV & Movie Prop Catalog Available Online for Sale Event December 21st

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Profiles in History’s Winter auction catalog, “Hollywood Auction 62”, is now available in print as well as online, via their official site. This sale is scheduled for December 21st at their Calabasas Hills facility.  Kudos to Profiles, as it seems that they generally have changed their reserves/estimates strategy on much of the catalog, and steered away from the hopeful jackpot estimates that have plagued their sales more and more in the past year or two.  It is another massive catalog, and though a good portion of it is familiar, there are some really interesting pieces in the Western Costume and Sound of Music sections in particular. [Read more…]

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Danny Elfman’s Music from the Films of Tim Burton, Conducted by John Mauceri, at Nokia Theatre at L.A. Live on Halloween (Concert Review)

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I published a story about the “Music from the Films of Tim Burton” concert event at Nokia Theatre at L.A. Live on Halloween on my other website, the Rock Subculture Journal, yesterday.  I’ve since received a number of messages about it from friends in the original prop collecting community, so I thought I would share a link to the article here for readers who might be interested in the feature. [Read more…]

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Bonhams ‘What Dreams Are Made Of : A Century of Movie Magic at Auction as Curated by Turner Classic Movies (TCM)’ Simulcast Auction to be Held in New York on November 25th

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Bonhams will be holding a special event next month, “What Dreams Are Made Of: A Century of Movie Magic at Auction as Curated by Turner Classic Movies” (auction 21427).  The live auction will be held in New York (and simulcast in Los Angeles) on November 25th.  Put together in conjunction with Turner Classic Movies, it “will feature over 300 of the finest and most important pieces of movie memorabilia ever to come up for auction“. [Read more…]

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ScreenUsed’s Movie Prop, Costume, and Memorabilia Online Auction to be Held on November 2nd, Catalog Available Online

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ScreenUsed will be concluding their next live online auction on November 2nd. The auction catalog is now available online via a PDF download via their official website and collectors can bid on iCollector. Featuring an assortment of original props, costumes, and other production material and memorabilia from film and television, this auction includes 300 lots. Highlights include a number of original lightsabers from the Star Wars Prequel films, two sets of Wolverine’s prop claws used in X-Men: Origins, and a Nostromo pistol from Alien.  Per their tradition and unique to their events, ScreenUsed have lower starting prices and reserves than many competing auctions. [Read more…]

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Profiles in History ‘Hollywood Auction 56’, ‘Dreier Collection, Part 2’ Post Auction Reaction – Update on “Jackpot Reserves/Estimates Finally Out of Control?” (8 Months Later)

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Profiles in History had a tremendously heavy auction schedule at the end of July, holding no less than four auctions across five consecutive days (Property from the Estate of Milton H. Greene on 7/27, Hollywood Auction 56 on 7/28-7/29, The Dreier Collection Part 2 on 7/30, and their Animation Auction 58 on 7/31), though they also held their Rare Books and Manuscripts Auction 55 earlier in July, and had their huge San Diego Comic Con display in-between sale events.  These were their first big sales of 2013 (apart from the awkwardly titled, adjective-heavy The Property of a Distinguished American Private Collector, Part 2).  The last of their traditional Hollywood Auction events was in December of last year and, as written at the time, it seemed to indicate a collision of escalating reserves/estimates and some push back from the marketplace on the same.  Taking a top down view of these latest sales, the same mixed bag would seem to now be a trend, rather than a one off occurrence. [Read more…]