Thursday, November 25, 2010

Happy Star Trek Thanksgiving

Well, I want to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!

On this day we should all think about what we are thankful for, and one thing I am VERY thankful for is all my friends in Star Trek prop collecting.

It started at Christie's in 2006 when I met Dana Hammontree and Rob from Atlanta in line waiting for the doors to open. After that I kept meeting people who I have come to call friends. Jim Williams, my fellow DS9 maniac, Mark Short and Giles from London, our favorite Patrick Stewart look-alike, though we didn't become friends till the following year when I went to London and hung out with him. The crew from The Prop Store of London welcomed me into the hobby and their VIP suite. Stephen and Tim were awesome, and I also got to meet Andy (who won the Reliant), Bill Bayliss (who won the Kirk Maroon), and Dave Abberly (who won a bunch of stuff!). Bill and Dave let me crash on their floor the last night when I decided I was having too much fun to want to leave! I also met Jason (Prop King) and his brother, as well as Denise and Mike Okuda.


What a great time that was, and that got me writing my blog. That turned into starting the Star Trek Prop, Costume & Auction Forum where I have met so many fellow collectors.

Since then I have made so many great friends. Lyn, Carolan, Katie, Donna...the forum has a lot of awesome female collectors. Anthony Sforza, Aaron Carlson, Adam Schneider, Ray Cole, and of course Jorg, the Star Trek savant! Susie, Francis, Alex from Hong Kong, Grant the Canuck, Burt, Dave (Dochol), Althea, Darrin, John, Chris, Doc Brett, Willie, Kenny, Rob, Anthony Pascal from Trekmovie.com, Josef from Austria and of course Doug Drexler.


Oh I have probably missed one or two of you, but if so, you know who you are and how much I appreciate you. Thank you all for being my friend, sharing our passion for Star Trek together and supporting this blog and the Forum.

I wish you all every blessing!

Alec

Friday, November 19, 2010

Kelvin Phaser in detail

I am a huge fan of Phasers. I own a lot of screen used ones, both hand phasers and phaser rifles. I think they are the most recognizable and iconic props from Star Trek and so it is kind of my specialty.

I guess I can say I got one of my Holy Grails this summer: The Kelvin Phaser. And that is funny, because this is pretty new, but the moment I saw it I fell in love with it. And the reason is because it looks like the TOS Phaser. It is a total homage and frankly, THIS should have been the new phaser, not the chrome one which got chosen. But that is just one man's opinion.


And I am big on homages to TOS. I always thought the Star Trek III Phaser was the perfect next generation of the TOS Phaser. It looked like it was an evolution of the TOS Phaser. You could see its heritage. And I loved that. (Don't get me started on that piece of crap TMP Phaser).

So this Phaser is now the highlight of my Phaser collection. It was pricey, but I love it. I am told they only made two for the movie. Now if I can land the Kelvin Communicator!




Sunday, November 14, 2010

Romwear brings ST 2009 Romulan clothes to fans

While I try and not talk much about Replicas (outside of Master Replicas and EFX, which are worth owning), I found out last year about the maker of the Romulan costumes from the 2009 Star Trek movie and that they were now selling their costumes to the public. Recently this cam up on teh Star Trek Prop, Costume & Auction Forum and it made me think I needed to write about them!

Romwear is a company created by the team that did the Romulan costumes for the 2009 Star Trek movie.

As they state on their site:

ROMWEAR is brought to you by the same designers who were contracted in 2007 by Paramount Pictures to create over 300 original costume pieces for the Romulans in the Star Trek movie (2009), directed by J. J. Abrams.

So what you can get? Well, the whole outfit, sold ala carte. The jackets are beautiful and I think well worth the price. Both Nero's and Ayel's jackets are available as well as other versions. Shirts, pants and boots as well.

I think the prices are very reasonable and the only question is how many people are interested in them. Typically it is the uniforms that are in demand. However, while not uniforms, these are very cool costumes and because of the prices I think they will be well worth it. The jackets are amazing by themselves. I wish these guys would set up at the Las Vegas Star Trek con!

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Record keeping in prop collecting

One thing we never hear much about is keeping good records of your collection. Good records are important for a number of reasons:

1. Insurance
2. Asset recording/tax issues

3. Provenance

With Star Trek collecting we are pretty lucky in that 95% of all Star Trek items in the market are either from the Christie's auction or It's a Wrap.

So let's review those quickly:


Christie's
- With Christie's items you should have an invoice to show its provenance. Some people got a CBS letter, but these are lal photocopies and essentially worthless. With Christie's items you have to be able to matc the item to the catalog photo and invoice. Of course some items were sold in lots that were split up, but the same rule applies.

It's A Wrap - IAW issued Certificate's of Authenticity. Generally they had a photo on them. So if you have an item from one of those two sources you need the appropriate paperwork.

Now, what about other sources, like Profiles in History, Propworx or Julien's?


Julien's
- New to Star Trek and only sold items from the Roddenberry Estate and the JJ movie. No COA, but solid provenance. An invoice should be what you use for provenance.

Profiles in History
- Sometimes gives out COA's if you ask for them. Basically worthless. Profiles has had lots of good Star Trek items, but they have also sold fakes and they don't reveal their consignors. I only buy from Profiles (and I have spent a lot with them) when I know the source. Their COAs are worthless. No photo, no matching hologram and good luck if you ever try to get your money back.

Propworx
- (Official disclaimer - I own Propworx) Well, let's face it, Propworx has the best COA's in the business. :-) Photos on the COA, a matching, serial-numbered hologram system and an online archive. This is because we care about this hobby.

OK, so now that you have the proper documentation, what do you do with it? Well, I have a file box and I keep everything in there. Organization makes your life less stressful. When I decide to sell items, as I am doing for the first time in a major way this coming Spring,
all I have to do is go to the file and pull the appropriate Docs. I also have a very comprehensive Excel spreadsheet with every purchase, date, price and who from. This is critical for insurance purposes especially. I section it by source, so all my IAW purchases are together, but I have one Master list with everything.


OK, so there you go. Some basics on record keeping. I strongly urge all collectors to maintain great records. It will help you when you go to sell, or if you ever have an insurance claim.


Alec

Star Trek Tatoo anyone?


I was sent this photo and link by one of the guys at Inked Magazine. It is a girl who actually has Trill spots tatooed on her neck! Now you think I am a geek! You can read about here here.

And of course, she is a DS9 fan!

Justine on her perfect day: “You can’t go wrong with coffee and some DS-9.”

Oh yeah baby! My kind of girl!

Alec