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

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Profiles in History “Peer Review” on George Reeves Superman Cape; More on 12/29/75 Western Costume Letters

As noted in recent articles (see Profiles in History Pledges More Transparency; Open Q&A On Website Regarding Provenance, Authenticity, Other Questions and Profiles in History Pledges More Transparency: Update & Response to “What We Are Currently Working On”), Profiles in History’s General Manager, Fong Sam, has written about embracing what they call “the concept of auctions as peer review” with regards to “verifying provenance” of material listed for public sale in their auction catalogs on his haxbee.com site.  With their upcoming sale, The Dreier Collection, Part 1, a few principals in our art market have raised questions with me privately with regards to one of the items listed for auction, Lot 106 GEORGE REEVES “SUPERMAN” CAPE FROM THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN.  Since the suggested resource on the Profiles in History website has yet to be created, I thought I would publish those questions raised with me in this article as part of the public “peer review” process with Profiles in History. [Read more…]

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Profiles in History Pledges More Transparency: Update & Response to “What We Are Currently Working On”

As a follow-up to the public dialogue last month between myself and Fong Sam, the General Manager for Profiles in History (see “Profiles in History Pledges More Transparency; Open Q&A On Website Regarding Provenance, Authenticity, Other Questions”), Fong has published a new response today on his Haxbee.com site (see “What We Are Currently Working On”).  Though this was touched on as closing out one of many topics, I thought it would be productive to reply with further thoughts and opinions on my part.  I am pleased to see that the topic is still under deliberations at Profiles and hope that it will eventually result in some kind of additional communications platform between them, their customers, and other interested parties. [Read more…]

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Profiles in History Pledges More Transparency; Open Q&A On Website Regarding Provenance, Authenticity, Other Questions

Fong Sam, General Manager at auction house Profiles in History, yesterday published an interesting article on his haxbee.com website about “the concept of auctions as peer review“, in response to a question at a panel at C2E2 (where they held their Captain America auction) about “verifying provenance“.  While Fong’s article covered a number of different topics, and referenced the concept of transparency, I thought it might be a valid exercise to ask a question/make a suggestion, to explore the possibility of the company making real steps forward in this regard.  Based on Fong’s preliminary response, it sounds as though they may actually implement a feature on their website where questions about the material that they sell can be publicly asked and answered, to the benefit of all.  If this should actually happen, I will be the first to applaud such a change in how they conduct business. [Read more…]

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HollywoodPatch Reports Lawsuit Filed Against Profiles in History Over Hollywood Treasure TV Show Concept

HollywoodPatch today published a report that Erik Anderson filed a lawsuit against Profiles in History, Joe Maddalena, and producers Shevick*Zupon Entertainment and Zupon Entertainment over the idea for their SyFy television series, Hollywood Treasure.  Per their article, Mr. Anderson claims to have pitched Mr. Maddalena the idea for a show with the same concept, which he called Hollywood Forgotten, in October 2009, and he also published four episodes of his show on YouTube. [Read more…]

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The Original Prop Blog 2011 Year in Review: News, Developments, and Trends in Collecting Original TV & Movie Props, Costumes and Pop Culture Memorabilia

As was the case in previous years (see 2007 Year in Review, 2008 Year in Review, 2009 Year in Review, 2010 Year in Review), what follows is an editorial featuring my personal observations and opinions with regards to the business of buying, collecting, selling, preserving original pop culture artifacts – looking back at the top trends, developments, and news stories of 2011. As is always the case, this is a completely subjective exercise, and merely touches on the developments and events that relate to the hobby. [Read more…]

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TMZ Reports on Cease & Desist Sent to Profiles in History Over “Rocky” Boxing Gloves; Sylvester Stallone Claims They Are Not Authentic

TMZ today reports that auction house Profiles in History have been sent a letter by Lavely & Singer, litigation counsel for Sylvester Stallone, regarding Lot 1069 from their “Hollywood Auction 44” catalog, published yesterday.  Per the report and copy of the letter published by TMZ, Stallone’s attorney claims that the “pair of screen-used Sylvester Stallone ‘Rocky Balboa’ boxing gloves” attributed to Rocky (1976) are not authentic.  TMZ also reports that a Profiles in History “rep tells us the company is VERY confident the gloves are legit“. [Read more…]

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The Original Prop Blog 2010 Year in Review: News, Developments, and Trends in Collecting Original Movie Props and Memorabilia

As was the case in previous years (see 2007 Year in Review, 2008 Year in Review, 2009 Year in Review), what follows is an editorial featuring my personal observations with regards to the hobby – looking back at the top trends, developments, and news stories of 2010. As is always the case, this is a completely subjective exercise, and merely touches on the developments and events that relate to the hobby.  [Read more…]

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Review: “Hollywood Treasure” TV Series on SyFy (Episodes 103 & 104)

This past week, SyFy aired the third and fourth episodes of the new cable television series “Hollywood Treasure”, featuring Joe Maddalena, Brian Chanes, and the staff of Profiles in History.  The reality-based series follows Joe and his efforts to secure important Hollywood memorabilia for his live auction sale events.  This continues a series of regular reviews of each episode, following last week’s review of episodes #101 and #102. [Read more…]