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

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Gallerist Feature Tackles Auction House (Hidden) Reserves and Transparency – Heritage Auctions Leading in This Regard with Publicly Disclosed Reserves

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Daniel Grant, writing for Gallerist, published an interesting article a few days ago about auction houses, reserves, and transparency (see “How Low Can You Go?: Should Auction Reserve Prices Be More Transparent?”).  In his feature, he talks about how in nearly all cases, auction houses do not openly disclose the reserve (the lowest amount for which an item will sell at auction), and provides a variety of differing perspectives on how this practice impacts their respective markets and its participants.  Of the auction houses specifically discussed in the article, only one – Heritage Auction – makes it known to the public what the reserve price is for every item that they offer for sale. [Read more…]

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Premiere Props ‘Hollywood Extravaganza XII’ Auction Catalog Online, Television & Movie Prop and Costume Sale Event November 23-24

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Premiere Props have listed their next auction with online bidding partners iCollector, LiveAuctioneers, and ArtFact as part of their “Hollywood Extravaganza XII”. The two-day auction is scheduled for November 23-24, currently featuring over 1,000 lots (though it appears more than half of that are not props and costumes but comic books, posters, and other memorabilia). As with past auctions, the sale includes a mix of original props, costumes, and other film and television artifacts, as well as general Hollywood Memorabilia.  There are many vintage off the shelf antiques attributed to film and television productions with no explanation as to how and why such claims are made. [Read more…]

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Premiere Props Does Soft Launch of New “MovieProps DNA (MPDNA)” Authentication System with DNA Ink and “Panel of Industry Experts”

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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…]

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New York Times Article Highlights Issues of Auction Oversight & Transparency; Discusses Use of Chandelier and Sham Bids in Art Market

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This week The New York Times published an interesting article (“As Art Values Rise, So Do Concerns About Market’s Oversight”) about customs in the high end art market auction world that are not favorable to consumers.  Though the article is specific to the art market and New York (and their own laws, rules, and regulations), some of the issues are very much the same ones we face in the original film and television artifacts market, and is “must” reading for anyone involved in buying and selling original TV and movie props, costumes and other production material sold in the marketplace. [Read more…]

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Profiles in History Files Fraud Lawsuit Against Non-Paying Auction Bidder on “Ten Commandments” Movie Prop Tablets

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Auction house Profiles in History filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court last week against one of its customers, Albert Tapper, claiming that the buyer won two items in their “Hollywood Auction 53” sale event last month, but only agreed to pay for one (“Lot 197 | Clark Gable early signed, handwritten letter to his dad”) that sold for $8,000 plus buyer’s premium, and not the more expensive lot (“Lot 422 | Charlton Heston “Moses” prop Ten Commandments tablets from The Ten Commandments”) which realized $60,000 plus buyer’s premium.   [Read more…]

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Update on New York State Assembly Bill A01730/S4313B: Seeks More Transparency For Auction Houses

This article serves as an update to a feature published one year ago (see Latest Version of New York State Assembly Bill A01730: Seeks Prohibition of Auction House “Sham” Bids Without Disclosure).  [Read more…]

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Latest Version of New York State Assembly Bill A01730: Seeks Prohibition of Auction House “Sham” Bids Without Disclosure

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An article published in 2007 (see Auction House Buying Considerations, Part II: Chandelier Bid (“Sham Bidding”) Legislation) discussed proposed legislation related to “sham” or “chandelier” bids, described by a New York legislator as “chicanery perpetrated by auction houses,” with auction house Sotheby’s opposed to the legislation. [Read more…]

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eBay’s Feedback System: Why It’s Broken

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Back when I first joined eBay (over 10 years ago), I remember that member feedback seemed to have real meaning.  I believe the original intent behind the system was to quantify how people do business, which would create some semblance of an “online reputation”.  [Read more…]