This week Prop Store announced their latest live auction for Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), which will happen on December 2nd and is officially in partnership with Paramount Pictures. Up for sale will be over 400 film artifacts used in the two productions. [Read more…]
As I’ve mentioned many, many times, there are always countless fake/replica/reproduction props and costumes listed on eBay as “authentic” and “genuine” and used on this or that television show or in a certain movie. So even if I took it upon myself to make note of these as a full-time job, I could never cover everything. But it is particularly irksome when someone contacts me directly to help authenticate a prop or collection – which I did for free – only to see it show up on eBay a few days after informing him it is a replica, being offered as “an original” and “not a reproduction prop” and “the real thing and very valuable”… I informed him that my expert’s opinion was that the piece was “a replica” and explained why and that these pieces were of little value. Not the $8,500 Buy It Now price on eBay. I even provided links to online collecting communities for further opinion and additional resources. [Read more…]
As reported on earlier in the week, Profiles in History CEO Joe Maddalena was featured on this morning’s broadcast of The Today Show – “auctioning off iconic items from famous movies” – in promotion of next month’s sale event. Of particular interest to the show was the Marilyn Monroe pink dress worn in the “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” scene in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and the Wicked Witch hat from Wizard of Oz. [Read more…]
Yesterday I spent most of the day at the Profiles in History offices in Calabasas Hills, California to preview their “Hollywood Auction 40” event scheduled for June 10-12. In addition to extensive interviews with Joe Maddalena, President and CEO of the firm, I also took many photographs of the props, costumes, and other material being prepared for the auction. This feature includes 270 photos of material on display at the auction house in preparation for the sale event. [Read more…]
HeroComm is an excellent website dedicated to providing fans of Star Trek with a tremendous library and resource dedicated to the study, authentication, and celebration of the classic communicator prop from the Original Series. [Read more…]
A Star Trek: The Original Series “hand phaser”, marketed as original and from the 1966-69 classic television series with a Certificate of Authenticity from “Movies Galore”, has been offered for sale and sold, offered for sale again and sold, and is now offered for sale on eBay for a third time over the span of just three months. [Read more…]
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…]
As written in yesterday’s article, “eBay Auction: Star Trek TOS Original Series Tricorder Prop“, an item was listed on eBay yesterday, marketed as an original tricorder prop from Star Trek: The Original Series, with an opening bid amount of $12,000, which has raised some concerns in the Star Trek collecting community as to it’s authenticity: “Star Trek TOS Original Series Tricorder Prop (1966-69)” (eBay Item #280203748990).
Alec Peters of the Star Trek Prop, Costume, and Auction Blog wrote an article about this auction on his blog today, “Alledged TOS Tricorder on ebay – Mark English replica?“. [Read more…]