The Bajoran Phaser Rifle

First seen in the season 3 Star Trek:Deep Space Nine episode "Shakaar", the Bajoran Phaser Rifle was shorter and bulkier than other phaser rifles, but its differences made it interesting.  

The Original Production Sketch of the Bajoran Phaser Rifle by Jim Martin

From Star Trek: The Magazine

Deep Space Nine: "Shakaar"

Voyager: "Flesh & Blood"

The most recent sale of one of these rifles was in Profiles in History Hollywood Auction 40 for $ 2,250.

Thanks to Jorg Hillebrand for the screencaps!  I have asked Jorg to review every new post and add what he thinks is important.  If you don't know Jorg, he is the premier Star Trek resource.  If you need to know something Star Trek, he is your man, and frequents the Star Trek Prop Forum.

Robert Fletcher Article from "Fantastic FIlms"

This article appeared in the February, 1980 issue of "Fantastic Films".  It is a must read for any Star Trek costume collector!

Click on the images to enlarge, and then adjust your screen to read the text.

 

A Tale of Two Death Stings Part 2

The Klingon Death Sting is an interesting weapon, as it was seen before, in the middle of, and after the development of the other type of Klingon Disruptor.  That type, which we all recognize as THE Klingon Disruptor of the DS9 era was first seen in Star Trek III.  It was later changed to have a "beakie" nose in TNG and later.  

We first see the Death Sting in Star Trek: TMP, but not really!  It is actually stuck in its holster and we only see the butt sticking out of the first officer's holster.

In Star Trek III we see the version we are all so familiar with, but before the "beakie" nose.

ST III Klingon Disruptor - note the nose

In Star Trek VI, we are back to the Death Sting, but now it is a different color and the actual prop is cast off a TMP version.  It now has a solid back.

General Kord with a Death Sting.  Notice it is missing the "tube" on the right side!

TNG starts off with all Klingons using the Death Sting.

In the TNG episode "The Icarus Factor" we see 8 Klingons with Death Stings in their Holsters

The Emissary - K'Ehleyr has a Death Sting in her holster

"Sins of the Father" - Note Kurn's holster

However, in "Redemption Part I, Klingons have switched to the Beakie Disruptor.

"Redemption Part I"  -  Note the silhouette on the right

"The Chase"  -  The Beakie is in full force!

"Firstborn"  -  We see the full beak!

The Beakie was developed because the Star Trek III style kept breaking when actors pulled it from the holster.

And then Deep Space Nine kept the Beakie Disruptor from the outset.

"Past Prologue" - We see the Beakie the whole series.

A Tale of Two Death Stings Part 1

Well, I recently bought a hero resin and metal Klingon Death Sting from a collector friend.  This was the version built for Star Trek V and used in TNG.  What is great is that I own a Death Sting from TMP, which I have written about before here.

So I decided to have my photographer at Propworx take some detailed photos and we can start doing some comparisons and matching.   I went back and reviewed the previous artciles I wrote and thought that since I now have two versions we might be able to get some more detailed info on the history of this weapon.  

So next week  will write some more on these weapons and we will see what more we can learn.  And if you own one of these, please email me and let me know.  I would love to see other versions of this.

TMP Death Sting

Star Trek V Death Sting

The Sword Of Kahless

Acquired from It's a Wrap, this is one of three stunt Sword of Kahless that were made for the Deep Space Nine episode "The Sword of Kahless" and then reused in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Prophecy".

When it came on eBay in fall of 2008 I was on the set of Battlestar Galactica and remember calling Max Cervantes, the well known propmaker, and asking him about the swords.  He told me that three stunt swords were made.

Another stunt sword surfaced recently and my good friend and fellow big Star Trek collector Donna Sakaida bought it.  Though not from an offical source it proved similar to mine.

ST XI Romulan Disruptor in Detail

Here are some detailed photos of the Romulan Disruptor from Star Trek 2009.

Profiles Auction Results

Well, Profiles Auction # 43 went off this past Friday & Saturday and I think it went true to form. Most items went about where one would expect and the items with the high reserves didn't sell. There were also some good bargains.

Here is the rundown:

Lot # 992, TOS Insignia $ 5,500

Well, this really is a premier piece of TOS history and I think it is a reasonable price. The fact that it is from the William Theiss collection is important and make the piece more valuable. You got to love solid provenance (especially since that is never something Profiles reveals much).

Lot # 1004, Starfleet HQ concept sketches $ 1,000

I liked this lot and I think it is a good price. Basically $ 500 each. I was close to going for this, but the holidays have money tight and I passed. Besides, I just pent a ton on some private sales. If the winner wants to sell one to me, let me know!


Lot # 1009, Maroon $ 5,500

Well, this piece wound up right where I expected it. The Sulu pieces drove up the price one would expect for a standard Maroon. So I think the buyer (A good friend of mine) did well with this.

Lot # 1025, Hero Boomerang Phaser $ 3,750

A good price on this I think. I think it could have gone at $ 5,000 no problem. So whoever got this did well.


Lot # 1027, Counselor Troi Monitor $ 1,200

This was a very good deal, maybe the best of the auction. A good character piece that will look great on display (something you all know is important to me!). At $ 1,200 plus BP it is a steal.


Lot # 1031, Picard Starfleet Academy Marathon Wall Placard $ 425

Another really good deal. This piece is an important piece of Star Trek history as we know Picard won the Starfleet Academy Marathon from "Best of Both Worlds Part One". So I like this piece and at this price a STEAL!


Lot # 1034, Brent Spiner Tricorder $ 2,000

Wow, this was another steal! $ 2,000 for a stunt Tricorder isn't bad. This one is attributed to Brent Spiner, which I generally don't give any credence too, but it was attributed by William Dolan, Set Decoration Lead from Star Trek: Insurrection. So it is OK in that case I guess.


Here are a few of the lots that did not sell:

Lot # 995 William Theiss Costume Sketches $ 2,000 is just too high a starting bid. And obviously the lot isn't worth this much. Considering I bought a Captain Kirk costume sketch from TMP for $ 1,000, this lot should have started at that and may have finished around $ 1,500.


Lot # 996 Teri Garr "Roberta Lincoln" costume

A $ 20,000 opening bid is absurd. This costume is a $ 10,000 costume at best if you got lucky and got the right bidder who was rich, didn't have any sense about them, and loved that episode. So good luck finding THAT collector! It just isn't that important a costume!
Lot # 997 Barbara Anderson "Lenore Karidian" costume

If a $ 20,000 opening bid was absurd for the Teri Garr costume, it is insane for this one. This costume is a $ 5,000 costume at best. Mediocre costume, mediocre episode. MEH.

If this consignor came to me and asked for these reserves I wouldn't take the costumes. A waste of time.

Lot # 1026 Dummy Borg Head

Well, this started and failed to open at $ 1,000. This should have started at $ 500, but not a bad buy at $ 1,000 since everyone loves the Borg.

Well, I would love to hear what you won. Please post it on the Star Trek Prop, Costume & Auction Forum!

Alec

Profiles Auction 43 today and tomorrow

Profiles in History has its 43rd Hollywood memorabilia auction today and tomorrow (Dec. 17 & 18) and it really is a great selection of props & costumes for all genres. And after the disaster that was the Piece of the Past auction yesterday, Profiles is a welcome breath of fresh air.

The Star Trek items will be Saturday since they are later in the auction. What is cool is there are some good TOS and TMP items.

I think the TOS patch set is really impressive. It has an estimate of $ 2,500-3,500 which I think is reasonable and it comes from William Theiss' personal collection, so the provenance is good.

The William Theiss costume sketches, lot # 995 has an awesome Osira costume sketch from That Which Survives, which I love. It also has a "Lenore Karidian" costume sketch from Conscience of the King. I have come to really enjoy costume sketches, and the Kirk one I own, by Robert Fletcher, is hanging over my Mantle.

There are two TOS costumes. The Teri Garr "Roberta Lincoln" costume from Assigment Earth and the "Lenore Karidian" costume from Conscience of the King. Now the Teri Garr costume is awesome as it is from a well loved episode and worn by a famous actress. However, the estimates of both costumes at $ 20-25,000 seem way high to me. The Teri Garr costume I see in the $ 10,000-15,000 range, and the Karidian costume in the $ 5,000 range. The Karidian is just not that important a costume.


The Original Concept Artwork of Vulcan Temple from Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a beautiful and very big piece by legendary artist Robert McCall. There is something to be said for owning a piece of Star Trek art by a famous artist (if you love their work). I bought a Bob peak preliminary for Star Trek III the Search for Spock and it is a beauty.


Sadly, my new apartment in California is much smaller than my huge townhome in Atlanta and my wall space is limited! Even my costumes are no longer on display in my home (thank goodness for my office). Anyway, I am a big believer that everything needs to be on display. and now I find that is always a factor in my purchases.

The Maroon is nice, but not a complete Sulu, so that will appeal only to a certain segment who don't mind paying a higher amount for a partial. I am not in the market for a Sulu, so I can't get too excited myself, but still a nice piece.

However, why is the jacket so wrinkled? You never see Maroons like this because the fabric is so thick. You can see this affects only the left side (as you look at it) and it is pretty clear that this wrinkle stops at the center seam. I would not be inclined to bid on it unless I got to inspect it because of this. The estimate is fair and I think $5,000 is not unreasonable.

Overall there are a lot of good items in this auction. I think what we are all seeing is there are so many good items out there (Propworx already has over 100 items for its March Star Trek auction, and that is just from two collectors!) that you have to be picky and you can afford to be.

Finally, Profiles in History has once again switched auction software providers from Live Auctioneer, which we at Propworx found had a serious bug in it, to iCollecter, which Profiles had switched to before, and then switched back to Live Auctioneer.

I would be VERY interested in hearing what you all think of the bidding experience between both providers as Propworx is thinking of switching to iCollector because of the bidding bug in Live Auctioneer (It sometimes shows you as the high bidder and then you don't win the item).

Best of luck to everyone bidding.

Alec

Piece of the Past cancels auction at last minute!

Well, this auction has been a disaster since we first found it. And now, with 3 minutes left. the auction site closed down.

SHILL BIDDING?

Well, here is why. With just under 9 minutes to go, I see my bids are almost all bid up to the EXACT maximum. (3/4 were bid up to the max I had put in and 1 was just under). Now what are the odds of this considering how different my bids were? I took a shot of the bid summary at that time, and here it is:


I contacted POTP at 6:52 and told them to call me as I suspected foul play. Because of this, they canceled the auction. They felt it would look bad, and it probably would.

And then when I wrote that this smacked of shill bidding, they wrote:

"No idiot it doesnt what it smacks of is you sabotaging the auction from start to finish"

OK, well, calling me an idiot is not the way to resolve an issue.

Star Trek Forum User Philippe had the same problem:

Well I noticed exactly the same thing. I had a bid on one item 1 hour ago at my maximum and I was already feeling it weird but possible if we follow the increments process.

So I did increase my bid just in case to what I thought would be still a fair price but less than what we saw in PIH auction for the same item. Then my bid went fast to exactly my new limit. Was going to look at the number of bids to compare with previous one when the system "crashed".

You can imagine I feel this is a bit awkward. So hopefully somebody will have bid more than me during the crash because if not there is no way I will pay for this unless I know exactly what happened and I can see the bidding history. Even so would trust the bids if those are from someone from the forums. If not would still feel fishy.

Guess the forums will have quite a few comments to come on this auction.

Cheers,

Philippe.


AUCTION DISASTER

This auctions has been a disaster from Day 1.

1) Fake items

2) Wrong photos

3) Bad descriptions

4) Failure to disclose damage

5) No provenance

6) Crappy software

And then instead of coming on the Star Trek Prop, Costume & Auction Forum and taking feedback, all Kevin did all week was bitch about collectors who knew nothing and whine that a member of the forum was using the name "Star Wares", which is the name of a company he supposedly bought. (No trademark, and no licensed business in CA, despite claims of both by Kevin Martin).


Was I wrong to want to cancel my bids? This auction was a disaster. I wanted to see it successful, and that is why I went to see the stuff and posted photos. But when you have fake items, and the photos and descriptions are so bad, and there is no provenance, well you are setting yourself up for failure.

I look forward to discussing this with you all on the Forum.

Alec

Piece of the Past final analysis

A lot has happened with this auction since I first found out about it two weeks ago. I have tried to be open and fair with Kevin Martin and the Piece of the Past Star Trek Auction he is running. Being that he is new to Star Trek auctions, I have tried to help, and have done a lot of work trying to authenticate many of the pieces. It is obvious that there were fakes mixed in with real items which is always a problem.

The biggest problem is the same problem we see over and over in this hobby. People assume that since an item was sold in an auction at Christie's or Butterfield's or Profiles that is provenance. It is not. Provenance is being able to prove where an item came from, and in this hobby it means tracing it back to the studio. In this auction we have no such proof.

Plus, there have been a lot of problems with this auction besides inadequate provenance. Inaccurate descriptions, fake items and the wrong photos were really unacceptable to most Star Trek collectors and has caused many of them on the Star Trek Prop, Costume & Auction Forum to choose not to bid. What Kevin failed to realize, is that all the problems with the auction has cast doubt on the auction as a whole. Now, I am bidding on 4 items, but on 2 of them my bids are low as I have doubts about them. If I win them I will take them to Mike Moore of HMS, who is the real authority on those items and have him authenticate them. I know I can return them if they turn out to be fake and if I lose, I won't worry about it.

Ultimately, what we have is an auction of items bought 10 years ago, before the Star Trek collecting hobby was as sophisticated as it is now. People simply didn't know what was real and what was not. It is like the situation with the Mark English fakes in the early 80's. There was no Internet and people didn't know.

Remember, provenance is KING.

So here is the latest on the items where questions have been raised.

First, the Cardassian Pistol. Even though not mentioned in the auction ad, it is broken in two. The description says it was from a Paramount auction at Christie's, but no reference is given.



The Klingon Mek'Leth is unlike any one I have ever seen. The finish looks totally wrong. Without provenance I would pass.
The Horgh'an was one I was interested in, but passed when I compared it to the two I have handled, both of which had totally different finishes. They were matte and this one was glossy and too light. No provenance...pass.


The Klingon Knife is a United Cutlery Replica. Kevin maintains that the sheath is a real prop, but it doesn't match any I have seen and since the sheath fits the knife, I would pass without provenance.

A lot of questions have come up with this Tricorder. The graphics appear wrong and appear copied from the technical manual. No provenance.