Monday, May 23, 2011

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



Friday, May 20, 2011

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

Friday, May 13, 2011

Propworx Auction live on Live Auctioners!

The Propworx Star Trek auction, consisting of 257 lots of props, costume & set pieces, will be held starting at 10am PST on Saturday, June 4th.  But you can start bidding and see the entire catalog now by signing in to Live Auctioneers here:


There are some awesome items in this auction, inlcuding:
Celeste Yarnel's Red Duty Dress from "The Apple"




And the only Star Trek TOS matte painting I know to have been sold!


Starbase 11 from "The Menagerie"

So check out the auction and make sure you sign up and get approved before hand!

Alec

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

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