The second week of Star Trek auctions on eBay from It's a Wrap Hollywood ended today with 69 of the 100 lots selling. 30 lots did not sell because they did not hit the reserve price. 1 had a ridiculous starting bid that wasn't met. This was similar to last week, when 33 lots did not hit reserve. There has been lots of grumbling amongst Star Trek collectors who see it as a lack of understanding of the market by It's a Wrap Hollywood, who simply cannot continue to have 1/3 of its auctions fail to sell.
What is interesting is that many of the items that had unrealistic auctions in week 1 have appeared in week 3, relisted without reserves. The week of Christmas is always the worst sales week of the year on eBay. But collectors don't stop paying for the things they really want. None the less, It's a Wrap Hollywood used the week to put a lot of small, less desirable background props on this week's auctions. 22 items, mostly bags and fabric went for under $ 100.
The Tom Paris Voyager Uniform went for $ 3,650, topping the auction. Considering one is
available at a prominent prop retail site for $ 3,000 (with the com badge, which the auction didn't have), one could say this was well above market value. Manny Coto's Admiral's uniform from "Enterprise" went for $ 2,739, which was very strong for a non-star uniform. Granted Coto was the Executive Producer for the final season of Enterprise, but still, he was merely a guest on the show and so this is a costume that should have gone in the $ 1,000 range. Two well known prop collectors bid this one up, which is even more surprising. But the eventual winner filmwelt-Berlin, a deep-pocketed German prop collector, is know for paying high prices for Trek memorabilia.
The third highest priced auction was an interesting one, the "Enterprise" alternate universe Starfleet uniform for the "Avenger NX-09. This blue jumpsuit had both the Terran Empire patch and the Avenger NX-09 patch. A great piece, it went high for a background player (my high bid was $ 1,100) but certainly is very desirable, as all alternate universe pieces are. Rounding out the top five were two props.
The highest priced prop sale was two "Enterprise" control panels which went for $ 2,000. Prop prices were high in the Christie's auction, and they continue to be in the eBay auctions. After that was a Jem'Hadar Kar'takin, the bladed weapon of the Dominion Warriors from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It went for $ 1,125.
Here are some prices realized and some sales that didn't close because of high reserves:
5 HIGHEST PRICED ITEMS THAT SOLD
Voyager Tom Paris Uniform $ 3,650
Manny Coto "Enterprise" Admiral's Uniform $ 2,739Mirror Universe Terran Avenger Uniform $ 2,225
Jem'Hadar Kar'takin $ 1,125Enterprise Maco uniform $ 1,025
TOP 5 ITEMS NOT HITTING RESERVEStar Trek Type 3 Phaser Rifle $ 2,125
Star Trek Voyager faux phasers $ 1,600 (Never hit opening bid)Enterprise Klingon Bat'leth $ 1,525
Star Trek Voyager B'Lanna Torres Uniform $ 1,026
Star Trek Type 3 Phaser Rifle $ 1,025
Another 100 auctions have been listed by It's a Wrap Hollywood this week. The selection is better than last week, and features a Klingon Costume, a Dax uniform from DS9 and some other nice uniforms and props from DS9 and Enterprise especially. Significantly, the MACO assault kit, Xindi costume and Klingon Disruptor from "Enterprise" have all been re-listed without reserves after failing to sell in week 1.
So what did I get in Week 2? The Quark's Bar Root Beer bottle ($ 350.99). I am a huge DS9 fan and my all time favorite DS9 scene is in "The Way of The Warrior" where Quark has Garak (my favorite Star Trek character) try Root Beer. Garak finds it "vile"! Quark then tells Garak how Root Beer is like the Federation (so bubbly and cloy and happy) and the more you drink the more you like it. To which Garak responds "It's insidious!" with a smile on his face. CLASSIC!
The first week of Star Trek auctions on eBay from It's a Wrap Hollywood ended today with 67 of the 100 lots selling. That 33 lots did not hit reserve was both significant and surprising, and it seems there are unrealistic expectations on many of the items that It's a Wrap put the reserve on. (A reserve is a price which the seller sets which an auction lot must reach before it sells).
The most expensive lot was Katherine Janeway's Command Uniform which went for $ 4,150, which was less than half of what the same costume went for in the Christie's auction two and a half month's earlier. Of course the Christie's version had a communicator as well, while this one, like all the costumes offered, did not. Meanwhile Voyager uniforms sold well and at very reasonable prices, averaging $ 960 for a background players uniform with grey undershirt.The big surprise was the price people were willing to pay for the white/blue/black dress uniforms from Star Trek Insurrection and Nemesis. The two in the auction, neither of which belonged to a main actor, went for $ 3,505 each. Probably three times what a reasonable pre-auction estimate would be based on Christie's results. Close behind, the First Contact style, black and grey uniforms went for $ 2,400 - 3,000, again much more than expected. It seems these movie costumes were really in demand.
Of course the aspect everyone in Trek collecting fandom who followed these auctions is discussing is the high reserves on so many items. Typically a reserve is set to protect the downside of an item at auction, to make sure that the item does not sell below the actual cost of an item, so the seller does not lose his investment. The Christie's auction had no reserves, yet It's a Wrap Hollywood had reserves set at the high bid realized at the Christie's auction PLUS 20% buyer's premium Christie's charged buyers. Considering only one person at Christie's was willing to pay that price, and that person won already, thinking you can charge the same at another auction ,and find another person to pay that price, is probably unrealistic.
Here are some prices realized and some sales that didn't close because of high reserves:10 HIGHEST PRICED ITEMS THAT SOLD
Voyage Janeway Uniform $ 4,150
ST II: Wrath of Khan, Captain Terrell Uniform $ 3,707ST: Insurrection style Dress uniform (white) command red $ 3,505
ST: Insurrection style Dress uniform (white) operations gold $ 3,505
ST: First Contact style Male uniform command red $ 3,040
ST: First Contact style Male uniform operations gold $ 2,750Vulcan uniform $ 2,500
ST: First Contact style Male uniform science blue $ 2,425
Star Trek: TMP style Starfleet uniform $ 2,400
ST:The Motion Picture Orange Radiation Suit $ 2,125TOP 10 ITEMS NOT HITTING RESERVE
Next Gen Season 3 style Command uniform $ 2,247
Enterprise MACO Assault kit $ 2,200
Klingon Full Head mask $ 2,000 (never hit opening bid)DS9 Romulan Tal Shiar Soldier Costume $ 1,925
Next Gen Season 3 style Operations Uniform $ 1,726
Enterprise Xindi Costume $ 1,481
White Radiation Suit $ 1,475
Star Trek: Enterprise Half a Missile $ 920
Next Gen Season 3 style Sciences uniform $ 810
Enterprise style Klingon Disruptor $ 785
Despite being the slowest week on eBay of the entire year, It's a Wrap Hollywood has put up another 100 items. It is not a great selection, though there are some gems, including a Tom Paris uniform. More next Friday.
So what did I win? The Orange Radiation Suit from Star Trek:The Motion Picture and Star Trek IV. In TMP it is only visible briefly in an overhead shot of Scotty at his main console and the engineer next to him is wearing one. In ST IV the four Starfleet personnel who are trying to vainly reinforce the window are wearing Orange Radiation Suits.
And here is a great resource for info on Star Trek Uniforms.
http://www.st-spike.org/pages/uniforms/2278-2350/uniforms.htm
And make sure you check out www.trekmovie.com, where I am writing a weekly article on the It's a Wrap auctions.
Well, for some time we have heard that there were too many items in the Paramount vaults to fit them all in the Christie's auction and that the rest would be auctioned off on eBay. Well, we are finally seeing them.
My buddy Dana and I were on the phone as the auctions hit eBay last Friday. 100 lots total and some good stuff, though not like we saw at Christie's. There were plenty of TNG and Voyager style uniforms for background players, and only two significant named costumes. Captain Janeway's uniform and Captain Terrel's uniform from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The latter missing all the important accessories. None of the uniforms have communicators or rank pips, which may wind up being sold separately.
I am going to offer some insight into these auctions, and I do some from 10 years in the auction industry. I founded a company called Marketworks ( www.marketworks.com), which is eBay's # 1 partner for big businesses. We have handled the eBay sales for Dell, IBM, Home Depot, Disney and about 1/3 of the top PowerSellers on eBay. I know how to sell on eBay and so I hope my comments carry some weight.
Here are the basics that "It's a Wrap Hollywood" needs to understand:
1) Titles are everything Their titles are awful. Half don't even say what they are, just a name of a Star Trek show. The other half don't use sub titles. Really poor.
2) Reserves You only put a reserve on an auction for downside protection. You do it to protect your investment. So say an item cost you $ 1,000, but is worth more now, your reserve is $ 1,000. It's a Warp put reserves on items that were EQUAL to the selling price at Christie's WITH premium. This is crazy, and shows a serious lack of insight into the auction industry and how markets work. It will also prevent a lot of items from selling. Considering they have a warehouse full of items, they need to move the items.
3) Opening bids Why they are starting a Klingon Mask at $ 2,000 is beyond me. Everyone is laughing at this one. It is a $ 1,000 item, so you start it at $ 1 and put a reserve if you have to. But starting it at $ 2,000 is absurd.
Now we move onto the fixed price items on It's a Wrap's web site.
1) An Andy Propbert painting for $ 150,000. Yeah, good luck on that one.
2) A single gaming chip from Quark's for $ 375. Give me a break. It is worth $ 150 max.
3) A warp core from an alien ship for $ 10,000. Maybe at Christie's, but I doubt that sells for that much for an insignificant prop. Probably really nice though.
4) The Type II Phaser rifle for $ 5,100. Well, it is obvious where they are getting their prices from. That is the price this piece sold for at the Christie's auction ($ 4,200) PLUS the 20% buyer's premium that Christie's charges.
Only ONE person was willing to pay $ 4,200 for this item and that person won it at Christie's. NO ONE thought it was worth more.
What "It's a Wrap" does is take the HIGH bid and add the buyer's premium and think someone will pay it. What they don't get is that only one person valued the item that highly. They surely do not understand markets and how they work.
Finally....
5) Star Trek II - Ceti Alpha Creature mold $ 100,000. Oh GIVE ME A BREAK!
Finally, WAIT, WAIT, WAIT. There are 6 months of auctions. They did this with the Xena prop auction several years ago and prices plummeted over the course of months. There are thousands of items at the Warehouse. Let them go unsold, don't overpay. You will get things cheaper later.
Well, feel free to comment!
Alec
Well, after the auction ended, I was supposed to rush to LaGuardia Airport to catch my flight back to Atlanta. But the heck with that, we were having too much fun. I didn't even have a place to stay, but Dave and Bill graciously offered their floor to me, and so I certainly wasn't leaving! Denise and Mike Okuda, who had spearheaded the auction for Paramount, were hanging around and we all got photos with them. They are not only the top of the Trexpert food chain, but two of the nicest people you will ever meet. They honestly wanted all the props and costumes to be in the hands of fans as they know that is where they will best be taken care of.
Cathy, our favorite auctioneer, as she really was the best and most engaging of the group (and she sold me my Sisko costume!) stayed around and we took photos with her as well. Here is the group in all its glory:
Front Row: Jason, Rob, Alec (me), Tim, Dave Back Row: Darren, unknown, Ronnie, Tom, Stephen, Andy Bill
Really Far Back on right: Brandon, Cathy from Christie's
We all went out to dinner together, and I got a real education from Stephen, Andy and Tim on collecting. Rob also is a wealth of knowledge, and you can ask him about any movie and he will know something about the props. He has been doing this longer than anyone and has an AMAZING collection.
So what does the Christie's Star Trek auction mean in the world of collecting? Well, many said it was the most significant event of it's kind since the famous MGM auction of 1970/71. 1,000 lots sold at Christie's for a combined $ 7.1 million. And this auction brought hundreds of people to collecting that would never bid on a prop on eBay (so full of fakes) or a Profiles in History auction. Profiles in History is a Los Angeles based auction house that really has some fine auctions and great props and costumes. (I actually bought my first prop, a Jedge Dredd lawgiver pistol, from them in 1996.) They may have a few Star Trek items in an auction, but nothing like the Christie's event.
This event got national and international TV exposure. It was advertised for months, a selection of props took a world tour to promote the event, and CBS gave the event some impressive air time. The result was many people who were Star Trek fans, and not collectors, bidding on items. They were willing to pay more for items because they were bidding on sentiment alone without any understanding of the market. The prices paid for props were very high at times, and some were simply insane. Costumes were more sensible for the most part, and reflected other sales that had happened in recent years of Star Trek items.
But there are thousands of Star Trek items on the market now, and that will only grow as new items are auctioned in the follow up auction that will happen on eBay. Like any collectible, common items will lose value, while rarer ones will retain theirs.
The auction was a great success and I am glad I was able to be part of history.
Saturday, October 7th
Well, today was set to be the big day. Not one, but two HUGE Enterprise models were set to be auctioned, both of which were displayed in the auction room. Plus all the original series costumes were today, and I know that my new friends were all looking forward to that.
I found out that the Brits had secured a "sky box" of sorts. It was private room, a floor above the auction floor, that had a huge window overlooking the action. Stephen Lane, the owner of The Prop Store of London, the biggest and best prop retailer known to man, had connections with Christie's, as he was involved in the upcoming December Entertainment Memorabilia Auction at Christie's London. I guess Christie's took car of him and his prop friends had a place to mingle and enjoy the auction. The Brits certainly know how to do things in style!
Well, Dana invited me up to the sky box and I got to hang out with the boys all day. Stephen, Andy, Bill, Dave and the rest were so friendly and welcoming. Of course Dave was no where to be found, as he was still sleeping off the night before. I am told he drank amazing amounts of alcohol and was up till about 5:00. Ah, I remember those days......................
So the sober ones among us settled down for the final days bidding. I had my eye on the Captain Sulu Costume, which was from Star trek VI. You gotta love Sulu as Captain, and he has some great lines in that movie. The Red ST: Wrath of Khan style uniform is generally the most sought after costumes after TOS ones. They are beautiful in person. Very heavy gauge wool gabardine. The repros you see are never as good as the real ones because the use the wrong fabric.
Here is the gang in the sky box talking about the days items:
The auction started with Next Generation items. The Picard first season uniform went for $ 20,000, while his late season one went for only $ 9,000. His dress uniform went for $ 9,000 as well. Strong prices. Bidding on the Entrprise "C" model was VERY slow, and so Adrian, from the British contingent jumped in, even though he didn't plan in bidding for it and stole it for $ 40,000! Stephen Lane from the Prop Store picked up the Romulan Warbird. Then the big Enterprise "D" came up for sale. This was a great auction, because the excitement was electrifying. We all assumed Paul Allen, of Microsoft fame, would be bidding on it for his Science Fiction Museum in Seattle. as many of you know, because it was all over the news, the "D" went for $ 500,000 and you can see the auction on YouTube.
After that the auction moved onto the original cast items from the TV and movies. It really started to heat up when the Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan items started. Most everyone will tell you that ST: TWOK is the best of the Trek movies, and its costumes and props are iconic. The one piece I wanted was Carol Marcus's costume, which I always thought was cool and a significant guest cast piece. It looked great in the catalog as well and looked like the colors had held up well. But my new buddy Andy wanted it and he was willing to pay way more, so I didn't bid on it. (I did get to see it after and it is BEAUTIFUL). Andy got a great deal on it and it is in good hands now.
The big costume was the one on display up front, which was the Kirk red and black movie costume. It is truly beautiful. Bill from the British group wanted this bad and won it. He also bid on a subsequent lot, which was a Kirk Star Trek III costume. There were two of those and Dave (who had finally stumbled in to the auction) won the other.
Then a funny thing happened. Kirk's Star Trek: The Motion picture grey jumpsuit came up for sale. An item I liked, but figured, with the way bidding was going, was out of price range. Heck, the three insignia alone had gone separately for $ 3,000 and they were on this costume. But the auction started VERY slow, so i jumped in. I bid it up to $ 3,400 and was outbid at $ 3,600. I hesitated. I really wanted to save my money for the Sulu Captain's uniform. Just then Andy, who was sitting next to me, leaned over, elbowed me in the ribs and said "It's a KIRK!". So I raised my paddle again and go no return bids and won it for a mere $ 3,800! Everyone thought I stole it and I was almost in shock. I actually had won a Captain Kirk costume! Well, if I wasn't hooked on collecting Star Trek memorabilia before, I certainly was now. Thanks Andy! I really appreciate your prodding! On the right is the uniform, as it was shown in the preview with the Red and Black uniform that Bill won.
I also happened to get the matching Will Decker Jumpsuit out of a lot that Andy won. Andy won the Captain Kirk ST:TMP dress uniform, as he had wisely picked it out as such at the preview. The Decker gave me two matching jumpsuits from The Motion Picture captain's. (In the movie, Decker is the new captain of the Enterprise, but Kirk relieves him to take command to meet the probe menacing Earth).
The other good thing about winning the Kirk, was that the Captain Sulu costume (like the Kirk above, red and black) went for $ 13,000, out of my budget. So I would go home happy with a great deal.
The auction moved through some original series items including McCoy's space suit from "The Tholian Web" which set a record for a Star Trek costume at $ 120,000!!!! I don't know what the guy was smoking, but I hope it has plenty of it, because when he wakes up out of his stupor, he is going to realize he spent a fortune on that piece! (unless it is Paul Allen, to whom this was a rounding error). T'Pau's costume from "Amok Time" went for a healthy $ 45,000.
We now approached the climax, the last group of models that would end the show with the sale of the Enterprise A filming model. But before that model would come up for bidding, the two Starship Reliant models from Star Trek: the Wrath of Khan were to be auctioned. Andy wanted the smaller one very badly. he is a huge ST:TWOK fan as it is what brought him into the world of Star Trek. And in this auction he won both the Carol Marcus costume, as well as the Joachim vest . He had been talking about the Reliant the whole auction and now it was coming up. I was sitting next to Andy (I owed him a jab in the ribs) and when the bidding started, Andy
would not bring his paddle down. He was on a mission and you could see it. The bidding got over $ 20,000 and Andy started to hesitate. Now I wasn't going to urge on anyone to spend that kind of money, but when Andy stopped bidding, one of the guys did give Andy a push, and he bid again. When the bidding stopped, Andy was the proud owner of the Reliant! I have since seen the model and it is indeed a beauty.
Well, the last auction was for the Enterprise A filming model. This was STUNNING and stood at the front of the room the whole time. This model was built for Star Trek: The Motion Picture and was used in every subsequent film, being redressed as the Enterprise "A" for Star Trek IV. Now I think this is a way more impressive model than the Enterprise "D". I never liked the "D" anyway, but even if you do, this is THE enterprise. Here are some photos to show the great detail and scale of this beast.
And finally to give a sense of scale. The Enterprise and me:
And Andy and the Enterprise:
The Enterprise A went for a VERY disappointing $ 240,000, less than half of what the "D" went for. Not sure why, as I think most people will tell you it is the much more desirable one! None the less, it ended a spectacular auction which was absolutely some of the most fun I have ever had. And the history channel has immortalized it on film and will be releasing a DVD for Star Trek's 40th anniversary with a lot on this auction.
In my next post I will discuss what happened after the auction and some thoughts on the auction and the prices realized.
Friday, October 6th - Day 2
Day two was the day I was looking forward to as Deep Space Nine items lead off the auction. I am a huge DS9 fan and Avery Brooks had made a surprise appearance Thursday, and I had to track him down and have my photo taken with him (I am such a geek). But considering he is my favorite Captain, it was well worth it.
The bidding started and I had my eye on a few Sisko items; his sextant and Jake Sisko's book from "The Visitor" one of the best DS9 episodes. But the crazy bidding on props continued and a set of Twenty Empty Bottles and Glasses from Quark's Bar went for an insane $ 7,500. Worse still, two infirmary signs went for the same! Who are these people??????
Well, I got blown out on the sextant as it went for $ 7,000 and I let Jake's book go as it went for $ 2,400 and there were better items coming up. If you are a DS9 fan you know what a Self Sealing Stem Bolt is, but at $ 1,700 it was bit more than I wanted to pay.
The costumes came up and I waited till the one costume I wanted came up, the Ben Sisko black and grey Starfleet Uniform. Now these are my favorite of all the DS9 Starfleet Uniforms. They have a great look and you can tell the fabric is heavy and very sturdy. I started the bidding and kept my paddle up as others big against me. The bidding past $ 4,000 and I started to worry, but the bidder who was going against me was taking a bit more time to top my bid. $ 5,000 was probably my max, and as my $ 4,600 bid was topped, I kept my paddle up, bidding $ 5,000. Pause........no bid......going once......going twice.... (I am holding my breath....PLEASE don't bid).....and the auctioneer drops the hammer and it is mine! Dana pats me on the back and I am happy as can be. My first Star Trek uniform and my favorite Captain's as well!
Dana and I went in on a few lots but we kept getting outbid. One time we had the high bid on a lot of costumes, but the auctioneer (a Brit they flew in for the auction) took so damn long to drop the hammer, we got outbid and didn't want to go any higher.
Big prices were had for the Deep Space Nine primary shooting model at $ 110,000 and the Defiant at $ 85,000. But the auction of the day was Picard's Ressikan Flute, which everyone knows from "The Inner Light" , one of the best Next gen episodes of the entire series. It went for an amazing $ 45,000!
After the auction, Dana invited me out to dinner with the prop collectors he knows, mostly a group of Brits from London and a few yanks. We head out to a sports bar on Restaurant Row and I get to meet Andy, Stephen, Bill, Rob, Tim, Dave, Adrian, Brandon and the crew. What a great group of guys and what serious collectors! Adrian had won the Voyager primary filming model earlier in the day. A super bunch of guys and I am just amazed at the knowledge and collections these guys have. Rob Klein especially is a long time collector who works in Hollywood and knows EVERYTHING about props. The guy is a living depository of knowledge about props and costumes.
After dinner a beer and then off to bed while the Brits go enjoy NY (much to Dave's chagrin as I would find out tomorrow). I retire with a smile knowing I have snagged probably the one item I wanted most.
Below: The gang in front of the Enterprise "A" model. The girl on the right was our favorite auctioneer (who dropped the gavel on my costume too).
The Christie's Star Trek auction was October 5-7, 2006. When I first heard about the auction, it was at Comic Con International in San Diego in July. Christie's had set up a small booth with some of the pieces that would be sold, and it was quite a site. Denise and Mike Okuda made an appearance and were on TV talking of the auction. I immediately ordered the two volume auction catalog (a cool $ 90 - heck, the hardcover limited edition was $ 500!).
The catalog was over 500 pages of full color photos. If you are a Star Trek Collector, you should get these catalogs just for the reference value. They are truly amazing. Now Christie's is selling them for 30% off. That's only $ 60, and you can get them at Christie's site.
Of course the hard cover edition is still $ 500!
Here are a few photos of what the catalog is like inside:
They had tons of great uniforms:
Lots of Props:
And plenty of models, including every major ship model!
When I got my catalog I called every major Trek fan friend I had and told them about the auction. Seats were supposedly limited, and you might not even get tickets to all three days! Needless to say, I had two friends apply for tickets even though they weren't going. Of course, as wound up, everyone got in. The room where the auction was held was huge and I assume they didn't have the turnout they hoped.I went through the catalog and marked every item I wanted. I had a limited budget and would have to bid carefully. With 1,000 lots there were so many great items. The Ships were amazing, as they had the primary filming miniatures for the Entreprise A, B, C, D and E, as well as Voyager, Defiant, Reliant, the Kligon Bird of Prey and the Romulan Warbird. They had costumes for every major character as well as background players and every type of prop you could think of. I think every friend of mine picked out the Ressikan Flute as something they would love to have (little did we know......). A Phaser Rifle was high on my list.As the auction approached, the auction got lots of press in the mainstream media. There were two articles on Star Trek.com. One has a bunch of photos, the other is a Q&A.http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/news/article/16195.htmlhttp://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/news/article/16219.htmlAnd a great piece in the NY Times online.And most importantly the CBS piece with Video.The days leading up to the auction, Christie's previewed the items for sale. It was a great event I heard, but business kept me away from it. None the less, you could see and touch every item that was in the auction. My friends were there and took some great photos:
Next: The Auction!
available at a prominent prop retail site for $ 3,000 (with the com badge, which the auction didn't have), one could say this was well above market value. Manny Coto's Admiral's uniform from "Enterprise" went for $ 2,739, which was very strong for a non-star uniform. Granted Coto was the Executive Producer for the final season of Enterprise, but still, he was merely a guest on the show and so this is a costume that should have gone in the $ 1,000 range. Two well known prop collectors bid this one up, which is even more surprising. But the eventual winner filmwelt-Berlin, a deep-pocketed German prop collector, is know for paying high prices for Trek memorabilia. 
