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

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Star Trek: The Original Series Props – Auction House Archive, Part 1

As noted in recent articles, there are many Star Trek “Original Series” (1966-1969) era prop replicas that have been traded in the marketplace as authentic, fooling experts, dealers, and auction houses, as well as collectors.

As a result, there are profound challenges in authenticating the iconic, high value props from this classic television series, especially the Tricorder, Communicator, and Phaser. The current ’state of the marketplace’ poses a significant potential risk for Star Trek collectors who could inadvertently buy an inauthentic piece.

The most productive manner in which collectors can help other collectors to mitigate this risk is by talking to one another, sharing information, and spreading awareness of the ’state of the marketplace’ for these types of props and underscoring the importance of formal and thorough authentication.

I thought it would be productive to catalog and archive information relevant to these props. [Read more…]

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Upcoming Auction Event Calendar Snapshot

Here is the latest updated list of upcoming original prop auction events. Please contact me if you are aware of any coming events of interest to original prop collectors. [Read more…]

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Superman Costume Matrix: Auction House/Dealer Website Public Offerings, Version 1.0

This work product is part of the ongoing series of articles about costumes in the marketplace attributed to use by Christopher Reeve in the Superman films of the 70s and 80s (see “Questions About Superman Costumes in the Marketplace: Authenticity, Sources, Quantity“).

What I have attempted to do is catalog the costumes offered for sale to the public by auction houses and by prop dealers on their commercial websites.

I have tried to capture as much of the key details of these offerings as possible to populate a matrix in an effort to share information with collectors about what has been offered for sale and the attributes of those costumes and costume parts. This also offers an opportunity to compare and contrast some of the characteristics of these costumes. Some also appear to have been sold and resold (based on matching wardrobe tags, for instance), as noted in the document.

Obviously, I am at the mercy of the quality and accuracy of the information used to market these pieces by auction houses, dealers, and their consignors, as applicable. In some cases, the information provided is vague and imprecise, so I would ask anyone using this document to please keep all of this in mind and to perform your own due diligence and verify all information to your own standards. I have not verified any of the information presented or claimed via the marketing and advertising of these pieces beyond what was noted in the applicable auction catalog and/or website. [Read more…]

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Original Superman Costume Auction House Reference Archive Part 3: Guernsey’s, Heritage, American Memorabilia, R&R Auctions

This is a continuation of researching past public auction house events to collect and share information about Superman costumes offered for sale historically. These are limited to costumes offered for sale in the marketplace that were attributed to use by Christopher Reeve in the Superman films of the 70s and 80s, with the exception of a few “Superboy” costumes to serve as a reference and point of comparison in appearance and sources, etc.

With this focus, I began with Profiles in History (see “…Part 1“), continued with Christie’s and Bonhams (see “…Part 2“), and include pieces offered by Guernsey’s, Heritage Auction Galleries, American Memorabilia, and R&R Auctions with today’s article. [Read more…]

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Original Superman Costume Auction House Reference Archive Part 2: Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Bonhams

This is a continuation of researching past public auction house events to collect and share information about Superman costumes offered for sale historically. These are limited to costumes offered for sale in the marketplace that were attributed to use by Christopher Reeve in the Superman films of the 70s and 80s, with the exception of a few “Superboy” costumes to serve as a reference and point of comparison in appearance and sources, etc.

With this focus, I began with Profiles in History and with this article (see “…Part 1“), will continue with Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Bonhams. While the Profiles in History article included fairly high resolution scans of the actual pages from the auction catalog, some of these are lower resolution and photo-only, depending on the source. [Read more…]

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Original Superman Costume Auction House Reference Archive Part 1: Profiles in History

As noted in the previous Superman costume related article, I am in the process of researching past public auction house events to collect and share information about Superman costumes offered for sale historically. These will be limited to costumes offered for sale in the marketplace that were attributed to use by Christopher Reeve in the Superman films of the 70s and 80s, with the exception of a few “Superboy” costumes to serve as a reference and point of comparison in appearance and sources, etc.

With this focus, I am beginning with Profiles in History as I have a full set of the auction catalogs, save for just one event, so it was easy enough for me to scan these with optimum quality and include all descriptions. [Read more…]