As reported at the time, long time prop rental business 20th Century Props shut down and liquidated its inventory back in 2009 and 2010. Well, here we are in 2015 and the Los Angeles Times and others have reported that Harvey Schwartz has rebounded along with the film industry this year, and has relaunched his business. [Read more…]
A little over two years ago, an air gun /pistol used by Sean Connery for some iconic James Bond publicity photos stunned the hobby when it sold at the traditional late November Christie’s South Kensington Pop Culture auction far in excess of its estimate, realizing a staggering £277,250 (US$438,609) including buyer’s premium. In a resale by Sotheby’s this past weekend, it sold for less than half that amount. [Read more…]
Mark Short published an interesting article on his “Propstop” blog last night concerning the March 10th ‘Hollywood Movie Costume Live Auction’ held by Premiere Props. While I had already reported on some confusing elements of the sale leading up to it (see “‘Hollywood Movie Costume Live Auction’, Confusion Regarding Material Offered at Auction” and “Premiere Props Adds Some “Hollywood” to their ‘Hollywood Movie Costume Live Auction’”), what Mark observed during the live auction and uncovered in his subsequent research looking at this week’s subsequent Premiere Props sale raises new questions about some of the few “Hollywood” lots from Mirror Mirror (2012) that comprised the now concluded “Hollywood” auction, with one piece sold therein earlier this month described as “the one and only” and the same piece being added to this weekend’s upcoming auction catalog. [Read more…]
Premiere Props has updated the online catalog for their “Hollywood Movie Costume Live Auction”, since the Original Prop Blog article previewing the sale was published on March 4th. As noted in that article, confusion surrounded the fact that it was unclear which costumes, if any, were made for and/or used in film and/or television productions. Today, just three days prior to the beginning of the two day sale event, approximately a little over 100 additional lots have been added to Session 1 on March 10th, most of which are items attributed to use in film and television. I also have confirmation from the publicist for Premiere Props that “[t]he theatrical costumes were used in stage productions – not in film and television” (i.e. the original 2,800+ lots). [Read more…]
The online catalog for the Premiere Props “Hollywood Movie Costume Live Auction”, scheduled for March 10th and 11th, is now listed online via bidding partners iCollector and LiveAuctioneers. The two-day auction includes “85,000 rental costumes”. Perusing the catalog, the bulk of the material has no attribution to any film or television productions within the lot descriptions; the only specific attributions are a relative handful described as from a variety of stage productions and musicals. [Read more…]
Christie’s “Pop Culture: Film and Entertainment” auction (Sale 5570) was held today at South Kensington, London. Results from two of the highlight lots have been widely covered in Reuters and the AP, and picked up by mainstream media worldwide. [Read more…]
The Golden Closet has yesterday announced the sale of original prop blank fire and non-firing weapons used in Salt, starring Angelina Jolie as Evelyn Salt. In addition to Certificate of Authenticity from The Golden Closet are copies of the original rental agreements from the armorer who worked on the production and call sheets from related scenes. [Read more…]
This is the last in the series of video interviews conducted while visiting Breanna Livie and talking about The Golden Closet and Eastern Costume. In this segment, I speak with James Livie and Breanna Livie about the origins of Costume Rentals Corporations (CRC) and Eastern Costume Company. 
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