There are two new features today on Forbes.com related to the original prop collecting hobby. One, “Behind the Scenes with an Obsessive Collector”, outlines Joseph Maddalena’s origins of acquiring an interest in collecting movie memorabilia, and his own lifelong pursuit for the broomstick from The Wizard of Oz. The other, “Inside the Search for Dorothy’s Slippers”, shares the story of the ruby slippers stolen from Michael Shaw in 2005. [Read more…]
Christie’s Upcoming Pop Culture auction (Sale 21633) is set for June 25th at Rockefeller Center in New York as part of their “Popular Culture” category.
The auction includes a wide range of items among its over 330 pieces, including many vintage or “classic” Hollywood pieces (Marilyn Monroe, Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, King Kong), an Academy Award, Walt Disney-related pieces, and more contemporary offerings, such as a number of wardrobe pieces from The Sopranos, and a Superman III cape (no provenance noted), as well as music memorabilia (The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, etc.).
The catalog for the event is now online at Christies.com: [Read more…]
I thought it would be interesting to analyze the public eBay sales activity of Auction Depot L.A. (auctiondepotla1 on eBay) and their Entertainment Memorabilia items consigned/authenticated by Global Antiques over the course of two weeks, using eBay’s “Search: Items By Seller” feature.
The following analysis looks at 14 days of listing/sales activity on eBay by Auction Depot L.A., with auction end dates between May 5-May 19, limited to the items listed in the category “Entertainment Memorabilia”, and limited to completed auctions only, having ended within that time period.
Within that two week time frame, eBay reports 361 listings ended.
Of the 361 listings that ended in the two week period, 330 sold and 31 (less than 10%) went unsold.
The prices realized for the 330 items sold amounts to over $15,000 (not including shipping or other charges), or an average of about $1,000 per day over the 14-day period. [Read more…]
There is an article on Condé Nast Portfolio written by Cathleen MacCarthy, “Reality’s Bites“, which discusses the “topping out” of baby boomer memorabilia and the rise of high end collectibles that are a draw for Generation X, including skateboarding, videogames, and ’90s rock.
The article cites many examples from different fields reflecting the birth of the market of pop culture rising from Beatles and Rolling Stones memorabilia in the early 80s, compared with interest today in Nirvana and Guns ‘N Roses. [Read more…]
A reader of the Original Prop Blog directed my attention to an ended eBay auction offered by Auction Depot LA with a Global Antiques COA titled: “TV PROP ORIGINAL GLASS DECANTER OWNED BY LUCILLE BALL”
This seller and consignor/authenticator have already been topics of past articles: [Read more…]
As reported yesterday (see “Original Ruby Slippers from The Wizard of Oz on The Oprah Winfrey Show“), the 1/23/08 episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show focused on “Classic Americana”. Part of the episode featured Dr. Brent Glass, Director of The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. The ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz were sent to the show from Washington, D.C., under the supervision of two armed guards and via first class air travel in a disguised box.
This segment has created some controversy (see misajane’s blog, The Orinda Group, Greetings from Taos…, and Oprah’s Discussion Forum) as a result of Oprah’s determination to personally handle the artifacts, which was counter to the museum director’s express wishes.
Below is the admittedly low tech video of the segment I uploaded to YouTube: [Read more…]
Today’s episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show focused on “Classic Americana”. Part of the episode featured Dr. Brent Glass, Director of The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. The ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz were sent to the show from Washington, D.C., under the supervision of two armed guards and via first class air travel in a disguised box. [Read more…]