Propworx Star Trek Auction II Results - Part 1 The Costumes

Well, the Star Trek auction was a big success from a lot of perspectives.  Certainly the staff at Propworx is happy with the auction.  We have over 300 bidders from 18 countries bidding in this auction.  The auction totaled over $ 156,000 in sales.

From the outset the auction was strong with the "Menagerie" Matte painting going for $ 12,000.  OK, so it isn't a costume, and I titled this blog "The Costumes".  Give me a break!  :-)  But we made this the first item in the auction because it deserved to be first.  Plus, we had a few bidders who we knew would also bid on the Red Dress, and we wanted to get this one out of the way, so the losing bidders could know they could bid on the red mini-dress.  The Matte painting is the first TOS matte painting to be offered by an auction house since this was sold over 15 years ago.

Now, when writing this section, I realized that most of the highest selling costumes were from my collection.  I really cleared out the closet and trimmed down my collection a great deal.  And I liked it too because a lot of my friends from the Star Trek Prop, Costume & Auction Forum won these costumes and they will now bring joy to them in their collections.
  
The Celeste Yarnell red mini-dress uniform went for $ 8,000.  I could have seen this going for a bit more, but none the less both buyer and seller were happy.  The dress was offered with TOS women's boots, which one rarely sees.

In fact both items went to Arnaud from France, a top collector in Europe and Propworx very first customer!  It was Arnuad that bought the Battlestar Galactica Viper in 2008. when we had just gotten up to Vancouver.  So we were happy that he got these very rare and precious Star Trek artifacts!

The beginning of the auction also had two amazing TNG costumes in the Worf Jumpsuit and the Tasha Yar dress uniform.  Both went for identical $ 3,750 bids.  The Worf went for $ 3,000 at Christie's, and although this wasn't that exact costume, it was identical, though without rank pins.

The Yar was one of the first costumes I got back in 2006.  After the Christie's Star Trek auction, the winner of the Lot that had this and Tasha's jumpsuit, wound up winning a Klingon Costume for almost $ 10,000.  he needed to sell the Yar's and I was happy to oblige.  I paid $ 1,500 each back then, so I did well in this auction off of it.  It is a beautiful costume, but I have her jumpsuit, which I find more appealing.  When I had my home in Atlanta, her jumpsuit was displayed next to the Carol Marcus, which made a truly awesome "Women of Star Trek" display.

There are actually boots that go with this that were misplaced in the move.  When I find them I will contact the winner.



Lot # 13 was Dr. Bashir's Future uniform from "The Visitor".  First off, "The Visitor" is one of the best Star Trek episodes EVER of any version.  It is the "Field of Dreams" of Star Trek, because if you are a guy, you will cry.  This is all about Jake and his Dad, and Tony Todd gives an emmy worthy performance.  So go watch it!

Now, why did I sell this?  Well, I bought The Doctor version of this costume from "Endgame" and that gave me all 4 major "Endgame" characters, Admiral Janeway, The Doctor, Miral Paris and Harry Kim.  So I have all 3 section colors, plus the Admiral is different in its trim.   And I wanted that selection so I could do a cool display.  So I really didn't need the Bashir.  It is a beautiful costume though and went for a reasonable  $ 2,100 with a future combadge!

There were 3 "Captain Proton" costumes in the auction.  Of course, they all belonged to me.  Last summer, when I didn't get the Captain Proton laser gun from the Profiles in History auction, I kind of lost my interest in the Captain.  Plus, now that I live in California and have about 1/3 the space I used to, I have to trim my collection down as I simply do not have the space to display everything.  And for me a costume not displayed is a major problem!  So I decided to sell these items, and I am happy they found good homes.  

The Lonzak costume went for a very reasonable $ 600.  It is an amazing costume with lots of cool parts.  The Delaney Sisters "Demonica" and "Malicia" costumes went to the same buyer overseas.  I am happy that is the case, as I hope the buyer gets two female friends to wear them to a con and then show off photos!  The costumes are really beautiful with velvet bodysuits and intricate details. 

The final costume from my collection that I am highlighting here, is the Keith Carradine "A.G. Robinson" costume from the Enterprise episode "First Flight".    Now this is a standard "Enterprise" blue jumpsuit, in command gold, and this one even had a pair of boots.  Though why they are hiking boots I do not know!  But this was a great episode and I really liked it.  Carradine is of course an accomplished actor and pulled his brash character off well.

I thought this was an important costume when I got it and I think someone got a great deal as this costume only went for $ 1,400.  In Starfleet history, AG Robinson was the first human to break the Warp 2 barrier.


Well, that is all for this entry.  I will have Costumes Part 2 up tomorrow!

Alec

The Propworx Star Trek Auction Catalog

Well, it has been a CRAZY month of May as we moved the Propworx offices to a smaller and much nicer facility.  There is a reception area now and the walls are lined with my best Sci Fi prints and art.  We will be having an open house at the end of the month and you will all be invited!

In the mean time, this Saturday is the Second annual Propworx Star Trek Auction!  Yeah, let's face it, this needs to be an annual event!  We already have a ton of stuff for auction # 3!

But in the mean time, you need to download the beautiful PDF catalog.  You can do so here.

While we didn't print a catalog this time (we simply don't sell very many and we don't do enough business to eat the production and printing costs), we did do our usual stellar effort in putting a catalog together.  A PDF only catalog allows us a lot of freedom too.  We don't worry about page counts and other limitations.  We can use more photos and make them bigger.  We are just learning how to best do a PDF only catalog, but we hope we will continue the tradition of the best auction catalogs in the business.

Alec

TOS Female Uniform Dress on eBay - Phase II

The TOS female mini-dress that popped up on eBay last week has caused quite a stir.  You can see it here.  The discussion has been whether it is a 3rd season or a Phase II and I can tell you pretty conclusively that it is a Phase 2.

I met with Bruce and Laurie Carlson yesterday and they were very nice people.  They took plenty of time out of their day to show another collector and myself the costume and admitted they don't know much.  Bruce worked on Star Trek 1-6 as a grip and had plenty of stories.  

I inspected the costume, and then compared notes with Gerald Gurian, who I consider a very good authority on TOS costumes.  Gerald and I recently authenticated a TOS Gold Velour costume, and so I know his expertise and his openness to discussion.

THE COSTUME

The costume is in amazing shape, and comes complete with 3rd season insignia and braid.  I will tell you upfront, that the plastic zipper, and the square weave fabric, makes it pretty clear that this is a Phase 2 costume.  Note that while the photos show it golden, it is TOTALLY green.  Just bad lighting!

Here are the photos:

NOW HOW WE KNOW THIS IS A PHASE II COSTUME

ZIPPERS

 

TOS season 1-3 costumes had metal zippers with the name "Unique" in on the pull

A Season 1 Gold Command Tunic Zipper

 Phase 2 costumes had plastic zippers with a metal pull.

Two Phase 2 Costumes showing plastic zippers

 DIAMOND WEAVE

Standard TOS Season 3 wool double knit fabric. 

 SQUARE WEAVE

This is the fabric that  is used on Phase 2 costumes.

A Sample from a known TOS Chapel mini-dress

And the TOS Mini-dress currently on eBay

So a few people who I have talked to concur that this is a Phase 2 costume and not a TOS 3rd season one.  Still, it is a beautiful piece and I think it will go over the $ 5,000 starting bid.

Alec

Profiles Auction # 44 results

Well, there were few surprises in the Profiles # 44 auction and a bunch of good deals.  I am sure the fact that the Propworx auction went live the week before Profiles' auction helped keep the prices reasonable, as there are 2 1/2 times more items in the Propworx auction than Profiles had.

The two big fails, were, as predicted, the Spock costume from TMP (no bids) and the Shuttlepod (no bids).  You didn't have to be a genius to know that the TMP Spock Robe was worth maybe $ 15,000 TOPS and that this one would never hit the $ 30,000 reserve.  And since Martin Netter already had one Shuttlepod, and was the only guy likely to be interested in something so big, that this one would not sell either.

The biggest shock was the nose cone to the Phoenix, which went for a shocking $ 15,000!  That blew me away, but you never know what people like.  (There is an unpainted one from Doug Drexler in the Propworx auction).

The Bajoran, Cardassian and Romulan PADDs all went for $ 1,000 which I thought was rich, but not too much so.  All were nice pieces.  These at $ 1,200 (when you factor in BP) is the high end of the spectrum, but not crazy.

The distressed Archer jumpsuit from Enterprise was reasonable at $ 3,000 ($ 3,600 with BP).  The Prop Store has been trying to sell that one for a while, but it was overpriced I felt.  An Archer is generally a $ 5,000 costume in good shape, and this one was somewhat distressed.  A couple people have asked me about this over the past year or so, so I am happy to see it go at a fair price (and to a respected forum member!).

I also thought the distressed Janeway from "Scorpion" was a solid deal at $ 3,000 ($ 3,600 with BP), as it had a comm badge and a stunt Tricorder.  I just don't think you will get a better deal than that. So good buy whoever got it!

Amazingly, the hero Tricorder went for a paltry $ 2,250 ($ 2,700 with BP).  That is a steal!  I was so tempted to bid on it, but alas I nee dto moderate my buying habits and I just made a big score that took my budget for the year!   But what we have seen lately, after last year's Tricorder bonanza in Profiles June 2010 auction, was prices going down for Tricorders.  I think now is the time to buy one.

Now the costumes with Mannequins were interesting.  A couple sold well and most didn't sell at all!  Here is a rundown:

TNG   $ 1,700

ODO  $ 3,000

DS9   $ 1,900

Neelix  PASSED

Vidian  PASSED

Nausican PASSED

Kazon  PASSED

KESS PASSED

Lawxana Troi PASSED

Romulan Female PASSED

Borg   $ 12,000

Quark  $ 5,000

Overall, a good auction, but the starting prices were too rich on some good items. 

Alec

Propworx Star Trek Auction site live!

The Propworx Star Trek auction will have over 200 Star Trek props, costume, original art and more in it, and the Propworx Star Trek web site is up and running with blog posts about different items.

Now, as many of you know, Propworx is my company.  I started it when Battlestar Galactica was coming to an end in 2008 because I didn't want us collectors to have to deal with It's a Wrap again after the Star Trek auctions and the non-stop customer service problems. 

I think over the past 2 and a half years we have proven to be the most collector-friendly auction house out there.  We have a passion for what we do, and nothing is more important to us than Star Trek.  So I am sure you will find this a really awesome sale and even find some amazing TOS pieces that you haven't seen before.

So check out the Propworx Star Trek site every day as new content goes up!

Alec

Profiles in History Auction 44 - Part 2 Props

There is a fair number of props in the Profiles auction.  All the basics are here, phasers, tricorders and the usual Geordi VISOR.  (There seems to be one of these every single Profiles auction).  So here are some thoughts.

Lot # 1484, 1485 & 1486

These are three early TNG props, all made from balsa wood.  Very cool and very rare.  Their rarity is balanced out by the fact that they are less desirable to most collectors than resin ones.  There is a Dustbuster phaser and two static tricorders.  In this market, I think they are $ 800-1,000 props.

There are 4 PADDs in this auction, and represent a few major races.  PADDs are pretty common, but also good looking, easily displayable props.  I have a bunch and love them all.

The Klingon PADD (Lot 1492) one is the least interesting Klingon PADDs I have seen.  Really rather boring.  I think the $ 400-600 estimate is pretty right-on.  I would say $ 400 max if I was buying.  The last one, which went in Auction # 40 last summer (Lot 1469), went for $ 450 and was much nicer than this one.

The Romulan PADD (Lot 1493) is very cool. I have one of these and like it as I love all things Romulan.  Relaly looks great in person.  This one should go around $ 600.

The Cardassian PADD (Lot 1494) is also a nice piece and again, probably a $ 600 item.  

Lot 1497 is a TNG era PADD.  Simple, there are a bunch of these in existence.  Don't go over $ 500 on this.

The Klingon Knife, Lot 1491, is a staple of prop collecting, especially if you like Klingons.  Like the Bat'Leth, it is instantly recognizable and thus very popular.  I think the estimate is way low.  This is a $ 1,500 item easy.

The Ferengi Triocorder is interesting as you don't see these often, but I am not sure there will be a lot of interest.  The Ferengi just aren't that popular (except with Francis!) and so I will be surprised to see this break $ 1,000.

The Hypospray, Lot 1496, is another important prop and I think this too goes around $ 1,000 -1,500.  A lot of collectors like the staples and this one looks like a nice one, with a brass tip and a plexiglass vial.

Lot # 1498 is a Mk VII Tricorder and pretty cool.  This one is supposedly functional, but not working at this time.  I am not sure why Profiles wouldn't have this fixed.  So I would want more info on this.  Working Tricorders have been going in the $ 4-5,000 range.  This one might go in the $ 3,000 range, and is worth it at that level, but without verification that it works, not more.  The Mk VII that went in Auction # 40 went for $ 4,250 and was much nicer and worked.

Now why does Profiles have a ridiculous $ 800-1,200 estimate?  That is just absurd.  I wish auction houses would stop playing games with estimates.  I mean I understand perfectly why you estimate low, you want people to think it is affordable, but at least be realistic.

There are a few more staples of Star Trek collecting.  A Romulan Disruptor pistol, a Cobrahead phaser and of course Geordi's VISOR.  It amazes me how many of these come up for auction.  The last one sold, in Auction # 40, went for $ 4,500.  The estimate for this one is appropriately $ 4,000-6,000. 

Lot # 1517 is a lot fo 5 Tribbles from "Trials and Tribbleations".  The last time Profiles has a group of these was in Auction # 40 (Lot 1493) and it went for $ 1,800 for 10 Tribbles, or $ 180 each.  Pretty fair.  This lot has 5 Tribbles so should go in the $ 900- 1,000 range.

Well, that is it for now.  More next week.  

Alec

Profiles in History Auction 44 - Part 1 Costumes

So, Profiles will have 103 Star Trek lots in their upcoming auction.  But 22 of these lots are mediocre original art from Lincoln Enterprises that really aren't relevant for a prop & costume collector.  Thus we have 81 items, and there is a good selection of props, costumes, original art and even a full size Enterprise Shuttelpod.

The two iconic pieces in this auction are the Khan costume head piece and the Spock robe from the beginning of Star Trek: The Motion Picture.  The Khan piece has a $ 30-50,000 price, which I think is high.

The Star Trek market has been flooded since 2006 and this piece sold originally in the Bob Justman auction in 2002.  At that time it sold for just under $ 30,000.  But at that time Star Trek costumes were much harder to get, and TNG and later costumes were selling for 2-3x what they now get.  However, this is a very important piece, so I am going to be very interested to see what it gets.  If it opens at $ 30,000 it might not sell.  From talking to my collector friends, the general consensus seems to be that this is a $ 20-25,000 piece.

Profiles of course, has a lot of buyers who have the money to drop $ 30,000 though, so it will be interesting to see. It is a beautiful display by Star Trek collector Tom Spina.

The Spock TMP costume is totally overpriced.  A $ 30-40,000 bid is just not realistic.  Profiles started this last auction with the overpriced "Roberta Lincoln" and "Lenore Karridian" costumes in their last auction, both of which had absurd $ 20,000 opening bids and neither of which sold.  This costume is cool, but a $ 15,000 costume max.  And more like $ 10,000.   So how do they get $ 30,000?    It is far from iconic and I will say if you spend $ 30,000 on this you are nuts.

THE PALEY CENTER FOR MEDIA ORIGINAL STAR TREK COSTUMES FROM THE EX HIBITION STARTREK:THETRADITION CONTINUES

The Paley Center for Media is a permanent collection of over 45,000 television programs, 20,000 radio programs and 10,000 commercials, encompassing comedy, drama, news, game shows, children’s programs to political conventions. The shows include concerts, sporting events, science fiction, TV movies and miniseries. The following lots (Lots 1518-1531) and previous (Lots 1490-1504, 1513,1514) were part of the exhibition, “Star Trek:The Tradition Continues,” with life-size custom-made mannequins, most adorned with make-up appliances painted and dressed by Paramount, modeling the original uniforms from the Star Trek series and are being sold to benefit television and film preservation.

So the above costumes were loaned by Paramount to The Paley Center and for some reason, The Paley Center is now selling them.  I got called by CBS about these.  I had hoped they would go into a CBS Star Trek archive (which they don't have).  None the less, CBS's loss is your gain!  These are nice pieces and already on mannequins. And the mannequins are pretty cool.  A lot of Voyager pieces though.  Not my favorite.

There are also Janeway and Archer captain's costumes, both of which are distressed and have been floating around a lot lately.  These should sell in the $ 3-4,000 range since good ones sell about $ 5,000.  Don't go overboard on these and look for a bargain.  Otherwise pass.  

The Captain Archer jacket is nice.  You don't see a lot of these, so I like this.  It should be a $ 2,500-3,500 item.

I will review the props and then the artwork seperately this week, so stay tuned!

Alec

Details on the Khan costume piece in Profiles Auction

So I found out who consigned the Khan piece and it is a legitimate collector who is a Propworx customer and a very nice guy.  The costume was originally part of the Bob Justman collection.  Why Profiles didn't state this, since this was their auction, is beyond me.

Here is what the collector said to clear up any confusion over the piece:

"I bought the piece in the first big Profiles Star Trek auction all those years ago.

I bought it along with Khans tunic, Khans glove, Khans necklace, Khan's wrist comunicator, and various wires and other jewelry.

All of the costume pieces had labels saying Montalban/khan etc.  The helmet has no label, never did.

All the pieces came out together and were verified by various star trek experts.

In addition, if you watch the movie, it is clear there was only one helmet-- in the botany bay, all the other helmets are already off, and gone from the scene.

In the exterior sand storm shot, there is only one helmet that looks like this-- most don't have metal and have different shapes.

After the bloated budget of the first ST movie, Khan was made on a shoe string budget, and all the making ofs describe how few version of the costumes and props there were.  Very few hero anything. 

Additionally, looking at close up photos and screen grabs, the mesh work is very elaborate and the same-- hard to duplicate. 

And there is a scratch on the metal under the screen right "eye" that screen matches up. 

The shoulder wrap I acquired separately years later from David Jackson (Backlot Props) -- who despite its Paramount and Khan tags (which can be seen on the Profiles blog site) came in a pile of WB clothing.  Who knows why.  I just thought it would look great with the helmet which it does.

Tom Spina built the display."

 

Thanks to the collector for providing this information.  One other note.  It is ALWAYS the responsibility of the seller to prove the authenticity of an item, not the potential buyer to prove it is not.  Profiles needs to provide information like this up front.  The burden of proof is on the seller.

Alec

Why you never trust an auction house.

Don't trust, just verify!   That is a change on the old "Trust, but verify" slogan of the nuclear arms treaties, but very accurate.  I have said it over and over.  Just because a well-known auction house is selling something, doesn't mean it is real.  Profiles in History has attempted to sell fake items many times.  

The Planet of the Apes statue that was on the cover of Profiles 28th auction was a total fake and this was uncovered with minimal effort it seems.  Something Profiles didn't do.

Meanwhile in Auction # 37 the cover item, a supposedly rare Dracula poster, which Joe Madelena swore was real, turned out to be a fake, and one of many that some collectors had forged and were trying to pass off.

Now we have the Rocky Boxing gloves.  These are fake too and Sylvester Stallone's attorneys have now sent a cease and desist order to Profiles in History threatening legal action if the items are not removed.  Read it on The Prop Blog here.

And on TMZ here.

In Star Trek we had the fake Jem Hadar Battlecruiser that I wrote about here.

So what does this mean to Star Trek collectors?  BUYERS BEWARE.  Yeah that old saying still goes.  

What is the provenance of an item?  

Who has authenticated it?  

Most of this information is never given and you can't simply trust an auction house that is selling thousands of items a year.  You need to do your research!

Alec

"Errand of Mercy" Chair found!

Jason White is one of the top prop & costume collectors in the country, who I met at the Christie's Star Trek auction along with his brother.  He is also a big Star Trek fan and a Star Trek Prop Forum member.  He recently acquired a piece of Star Trek history and wrote about it on the forum.  I asked him to publish it here.

From Jason:

A genuine antique hand carved throne chair used in numerous historic films and TV shows, the main one I was interested in was of course Star Trek. We also found it in an 1940 Karloff/Lugosi/Lorre movie so that was exciting. Who knows where else it will show up.

With numerous studio markings underneath from all the different prop houses it came from, started off in the RKO prop house, when the decline of RKO began in 1948 it was bought out by eccentric tycoon Howard Hughes, who eventually sold it to a tire company. It was soon purchased by Lucille Ball & Desi Arnaz in 1957, who made it part of their "Desilu Studios." Eventually, the RKO/Desilu property was swallowed up by its massive neighbor, Paramount Studios. 

STAR TREK - THE ORIGINAL SERIES (1966-1969)
Errand Of Mercy ( Season One )
Used by John Abbott who played "Ayelborne" the leader of the Organians
When Kirk and Spock visited their world in 2266

YOU'LL FIND OUT (1940)
Starring Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Peter Lorre
The only pairing of these legendary actors
Puppets from King Kong and the un-finished Creation also appear in this film

CITIZEN KANE (1941)
Starring Orson Wells, Joseph Cotten and Agnes Moorehead

THE SPANISH MAIN (1945)
Starring Maureen O'Hara and Paul Henreid

AT SWORD'S POINT (1952)
Starring Maureen O'Hara and Cornel Wilde

THE UNTOUCHABLES (1959-1963)

I-SPY (1965-1968)
Return To Glory (Season One)
Starring Robert Culp, Bill Cosby and Dolores Del Rio

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE (1966-1973)

The search continues...

This was originally sold by Paramount when they liquidated some furniture at one of the top auction houses, the auction didn't get much press as the auction house weren't allowed to use the studio's name which is why a lot of collectors missed the auction.

Didn't make sense to me but bargains could be had if you did your homework.  There were a lot of TOS Trek pieces sold at that auction as they used props from the old RKO prophouse. The goal is to track these treasures down. Most pieces have been scattered all over the world, mostly to antique shops as most of these items were rare one of a kind antiques.

There was another matching chair sold at the time which has been screen matched to an old episode of the 50's Superman show. This chair here has been screen matched to the Trek episode.

You can see 2 chairs on screen at the same time in Citizen Kane and At Sword's Point.

Thanks to Jason for the great information!

Khan Mask to be sold at Profiles Auction

Profiles in History will be offering what is claimed to be the mask Ricardo Montablan wore in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.  The display is nice, but as always, what is the provenance on this piece? 

Profiles will be having a number of Star Trek items in their May Hollywood Auction 44, but so far, this is the only significant piece in the auction.

More reviews of the other items they have shortly.

Alec

QMX releases Star Trek Phaser replica

Having seen the prototype of this at San Diego Comic Con, I can tell you this is a great deal for a high quality replica.  QMX, like EFX, does great work and I highly recommend this!

From the QMX Press Release:

The Best Diplomat: A Fully Activated Phaser Bank

Got pesky Romulans lurking in the shadows? Or Klingons off the starboard bow? All you need to ward them off is this gleaming 1:1 scale, screen-accurate replica of the stunt phaser used in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek.

Our replica has been cast from a first-generation master of the screen-used phaser. Its solid polystone core is precision metal-plated in several finishes – steel, gunmetal, aluminum block and chrome – to create an exact match of the actual hero phaser used in the movie.

The QMx Enterprise Metal-Plated Phaser Replica measures 10.5" long x 7" high (grip included) and weighs more than one pound. It comes with a custom-designed display stand in smoke-colored lucite and includes a brass name plaque.

All this for just $49.95.