More Photos From Last Weekend

Martin from Germany provided me with these photos of last weekend's Creation Star Trek Convention in Burbank!



This is the It's a Wrap Booth with Willie Bath from the UK, talking to Colin from IAW (who was wearing a Cardassian soldier costume). On the table you can see the two Klingon masks, a Romulan Disruptor Rifle, a Reman Rifle and a Phaser Rifle.



Dennis and Alicia in Enterprise Uniforms with Colin wearing an Archer stunt Desert uniform.



Willie Bath opening up the Enterprise Sensor Package he won from It';s a Wrap (He outbid me on that one!)

Hope you enjoy them!

Alec

Tom Spina Designs

When I was at Christie's I met a fantastic guy named Tom Spina. He owns Tom Spina Designs and is an amazing artist who does everything from props and costumes to special displays and work with latex. The last is important for Star Trek collectors with all the latex props and appliances that we are seeing from IAW. As I always say, these will degrade over time, and Tom can help you solve that. His speciality is unique display and restoration solutions for foam and latex pieces. More importantly, he is just the nicest guy and a pleasure to chat with.

Tom is the guy on the right

It's a Wrap eBay auctions - Week 18 Results

Week 18

How is this for getting the results up fast? Under an hour after the auctions ended! Well, I have a wedding tomorrow and an event Sunday, so no time to work on it this weekend.

Well, for a poor selection this week, there were some amazing surprises, some excellent prices and some good deals.

The T'Pol Blue Civilian Jumpsuit went for a stunning $ 6,501! Now this is listed as a stunt costume as the costume tag reads Bonnie Yanagisawa who is a prolific Hollywood stunt woman. Why the high bids? Well, the winning bidder (who is a very nice guy who has bought some of the Enterprise props I have had for sale) doesn't let price get in the way of what he wants. Obviously, the under bidder felt the same way! But it is a beautiful costume, and will look great on a mannequin (much better than a hanger form as I often use). Some costume require mannequins, and this is one. So a record for an Enterprise costume!

I won the The Breen Atmosphere Armor and am very happy about getting it at $ 3,616. I am a huge DS9 fan and so this will go well in my collection. Plus it is an amazing costume that looks great. I told my buddy before the auction, that I would be happy getting this costume around $ 3,500, so all ended well.

The Dimitri Valtane costume sold for a very healthy $ 2,875. The last complete one of these went for $ 2,950, so this is a very consistent price and a good deal. These are very iconic, display well and are the goal of many a Star Trek collector! I know the winner and he is a very happy man now!

The T'pol's After Hours Wear didn't get bid up past the $ 2,749 it was at on Wednesday. Now, who the hell thought a pair of PJs was worth this, I don't know. I don't even want to know what the winner is going to do with these and I don't want to know! :-)

I also won the The Orange Feature Style Engineering Suit for $ 1,715. Now I won one of these back in December, and at the time I thought it was rare, but this is the fourth one that has sold, and the cheapest. Mine didn't have the collar, the center chest insert, or a helmet. I subsequently got a black collar from a friend who won a white one at Christie's (they came with two collars), so it is nice, but this one has better gloves, the chest insert and a helmet. So, if you want one of these at a great price, let me know!

The Feature Style Crewman Uniform set a record for this type of uniform at $ 1,625. It does have the original belt, which the previous ones, that all sold in the $800-900 range, did not.

I said that the The Commander Tucker costume should go about $ 1,000 and it went for $ 1,006!

The Archer Away Team Jacket though distressed went for a reasonable $ 1,370. Both good deals I think. Note that I am often asked how to buy on a budget, and I think if you can live with a distressed piece (some people prefer them as having seen real "action") then there are a load of great deals in the $ 800-1,000 range.

I said I liked the Dr. Phlox Cold Weather Costume and it really jumped in the last minute from about $ 250 to $ 1,250.29. I think a lot of people had their eye on this one. Still a great deal for a nice costume with lots of accessories.

Finally, there were some beautiful civilian clothes, and I admit, the week wasn't as bad as I first thought if you look at the quality of the civilian and non-uniform character wear. I won the Tuvok Civilian Outfit because it was a beautiful piece and very reasonable at $ 515. The Reed as a Suliban costume is beautiful as well and went for only $ 517. Also the Doctor/Tom Paris Smoking Jacket was a steal at $ 390. What beautiful fabric! Dana, you will look good lounging about in this with your pipe!

So I think if you want a nice costume of your favorite character on a budget, look at the low priced costumes each week and really look at the photos and close ups.


As far as props go:

I liked the Enterprise Agony Booth Controls which ended at $ 920 and would have bid fo r them if I hadn't gotten cleaned out with my 3 previous purchases! These are very cool and will look great if displayed right. (put them on the wall next to your gym!)

The Glass Bajoran Panel sold at $ 759 and I think this was a smoking deal. If you looked at the photos, especially of the close ups, you saw how beautiful the piece is. I really wanted to go after this, but had pretty much blown the week's budget on 3 costumes already! The winner will find this is an absolutely beautiful piece and I congratulate them.


The Enterprise Dr. Soong's Lesson PADD went for a reasonable $ 739. This is the type of prop you should be looking for if you are budget minded, as it has great historical significance in the Star Trek universe and sold at a reasonable price.

The Enterprise Lantern went for $ 539, which is about right. A nice prop that will look good just about anywhere. Hopefully it works too!

The Voyager Non-Humanoid Creature at $ 510 was reasonable for such a prop.

The Alien PADD went for $ 373 which was a smoking deal! A great buy for someone who was bidding smart.



So here are some awards for the week:


Best Costume of the Week: The Breen Atmosphere Armor. Yeah I won this, so I am giving myself the award, but it is still very cool!

Best Prop of the Week: I really liked the Bajoran Glass Panel. Beautiful work and the winner got a gem.

Best Buy of the week: Travis Mayweather Desert Wear. $717.53....a steal! It comes with a pip and the Enterprise Shoulder Patch!!!

Worst Buy of the week: Tough call with a stunt suit going for $ 6,501, but still, T'pol's After Hours Wear at $ 2,749 is ridiculous.

Sleeper of the Week: The Bajoran Glass Panel at $ 759. This should have gone over $ 1,000 as it is simply beautiful. This is the first ever double award winner! (and the first time I have used a photo in both the preview and the results as it is worth seeing it again).


And here are some prices realized:

5 HIGHEST PRICED ITEMS THAT SOLD

T'Pol Blue Civilian Jumpsuit $ 6,501

The Breen Atmosphere Armor $ 3,616

Dimitri Valtane costume $ 2,875

T'pol's After Hours Wear $ 2,749

Romulan System Display Screen $ 1,775

The Team at It's a Wrap

I mentioned in my previous posts about the Star Trek convention that I got to know the IAW staff and spend time chatting with them. So I thought I would share a bit on each of them so you can get an idea of who the team is and what they do.

Colin is the project manager who is a big fan of Star Trek and was hired by IAW specifically to run the IAW auctions with Paramount. A sharp guy, Colin has a really good sense of product mix, merchandising and seems laid back enough so that he is probably a great guy to work with.

Holly is the assistant project manager. She and Colin will choose the costumes to use that week and then write the descriptions. She also will answer many of the questions that IAW gets each week (and they get a lot).

Tami is in charge of putting all the costumes together. Basically she runs around the warehouse and finds the costumes that are auctioned off. Her focus is not choosing what is auctioned, but rather putting the costumes together. She will try and find the pieces of a costume if the costume is not complete. She does grunt work according to her, (but with a smile).

Brian is the second in command trekker according to him!. A friend of Colin's from way back and big Star Trek fan (Voyager is his fav), he will see the costume and then identify where it is from with Colin. If they need to research the piece on Trekcore of Memory Alpha, he is the guy who does that. He pulls the costumes after Colin and Holly determine what they want any given week.

Alicia is the main photographer. She does a great job prepping the costumes, and then photographs them against the Next Gen star field backdrop.

Dennis is the Warehouse Manager, he not only takes care of photoshoping the photos and uploading the items for the auction, but he takes care of the physical warehouse.

Gilbert, who is the Shipping Associate, was not at the show (probably too busy shipping the hundreds of packages!). He prepares the items for shipment, prints the COA's and corresponds with the shipping providers.

Many of you know Dominic who was also too busy to be at the show (someone had to run the show while everyone else was dressed up in Star Trek costumes selling me stuff!). He is the General Manager of the entire company, including the 2 retail stores and 2 warehouses. He is in charge of running all operations, including the Star Trek auction. He is the person that handles the funds collection, and of course customer service (which he works very hard at).

Last, but certainly not least, is Tiara is the owner of It's a Wrap. You won't see her involved in the auctions or the store per se as she is always running around doing the deals to get more stock in their two stores. She's the big picture person and CEO.

Thanks to all the IAW staff for chatting with me and filling me in. They are great folk and I hope you all cut them some slack if things are a bit slow with your shipments. There is a lot to do there and they don't have the most efficient tools to work with. (I am working on them to get a better technology solution in place!).

Alec

It's a Wrap eBay auctions - Week 18 Preview

Week 18 Preview

This is absolutely the worst selection we have seen so far. There are half a dozen decent costumes and very few props of interest, so i am going to make this a short one.

The highest item now, amazingly, is T'pol's After Hours Wear which is currently at $ 2,749. OK, this is insane, and I don't even want to think of WHY someone would pay such an insane price for pajamas. But that is a ridiculous price for PJs.

The Dimitri Valtane costume is the second complete Maroon movie costume. These are highly sought after, and this should go well over $ 3,000 as it is already at $ 2,325. I think everyone would like one of these as they are so iconic. How many are there at the warehouse? Well, IAW isn't saying and so we will have to wait and see. But there are probably a dozen or so based on how many we have seen in the movies.

The Breen Atmosphere Armor is quite beautiful. There are at least four sets of Breen armor that were made. Check out the below photo. The Breen commander's armor is different. He is the one seen on the left. This armor was sold at Christie's. The one currently offered is the the one on the left in the background. You can see the photos here.
















These are really nice costumes and I think will go in the $ 3,500 range, but it could easily hit $ 4,000. I wish it had a gun as well for that nice holster!

The Feature Style Crewman Uniform has been seen before and they have gone in the $ 900 range pretty constantly. This one has a belt though, and so is more desirable. Still, it is much more than one might expect.

The Orange Feature Style Engineering Suit has been seen before, but not with that Orange head gear. We have been trying to place it but can't seem to. If you have any idea, please let me know. The best we can tell, it might be used in Spock's funeral scene in ST: TWOK. The last crewman on the right has something in his hand, but even using my DVD, I can't see if this is it. Either way, this is the fourth one we have seen and the previous three have all gone around $ 2,500.

The Commander Tucker costume is distressed so should go at a reasonable price. It is at $ 510 now and so should go about $ 1,000. Similarly, the Archer Away Team Jacket is also distressed and should sell around the same price.

The T'Pol Blue Civilian Jumpsuit is a stunt costume, but it doesn't say so in the description. Rather it indicates the costume tag reads Bonnie Yanagisawa who is a prolific Hollywood stunt woman. It is a nice costume and will display well. And this is a nice way to get a character costume at a reasonable price.

I also like the Dr. Phlox Cold Weather Costume. It is at $ 255 now and should go around $ 1,000. But keep an eye out for this as it could be a sleeper.

Finally, I really like the Tuvok Civilian Outfit. I saw this episode of Voyager recently and really liked it. It is well designed and made with some beautiful fabrics. I think it will look great in someone's collection.


As far as props go:

UGH! What a lousy week for props.

The Glass Bajoran Panel is rather nice and already at $ 586. It is big at 2'x5' and pretty sharp. It will certainly be the highest selling prop.

I like the Enterprise Agony Booth Controls which are pretty darn cool and already at $ 450. There have been a lot of these type of panels from Enterprise, which is not surprising since Enterprise was the most recent show. That being said, these items tend to go pretty high. $ 1,000 is not unrealistic for these.

The next best prop is Voyager Non-Humanoid Creature. It would be pretty cool if it was complete, but this looks like a cool way to scare your little sister!

The Enterprise Lantern is pretty nice. I wish that the description noted if this actually worked or not! I am told this was actually used in Voyager as well.

Both the Alien PADD and the Enterprise Dr. Soong's Lesson PADD are under $ 200 now and should go in the $ 700-900 range. I think that is pretty good and you should look to these if you are looking for reasonable props. The Soong PADD is especially cool because of its historical significance.

Well, that is all for now.

Good luck this week and good hunting!

Alec

A Question.........

"Since before your sun burned hot in space, and before your race was born, I have awaited a question."

OK, I got one two weeks ago, but I do so love saying that. The Guardian of the Star Trek Auction, Prop and Costume Blog got this question from Branden.

"Hi Alec,

Not to sure how to post a comment on the blog, just a question. Would you know where or how I can obtain rank pips? I have looked everywhere and sadly I can't go pay IAW a visit at their store.

Wanted to ask you and see what you would suggest.

Branden"


Branden:

First of all, as far as commenting on the blog, just go to the bottom of any post and click on "comments".

Second, It's a Wrap doesn't sell any Star Trek items out of their store. And even if they did, there may not be any rank pips for sale, as they will most likely put them on uniforms to sell them more complete.

That being said, I highly recommend you get some of Brett Jones replicas if you need pips. Brett runs Federation Surplus, and he makes the absolute best replicas in the industry. I just got a set from him and they are fantastic. He offers the traditional pin style as used on the show, or he offers a magnetic style so you don't have to poke holes in your valuable costumes. All of Brett's stuff is amazing and well worth the price.

Alec

Star Trek Convention PART II

Prop Collectors

The best part of the Creation Star Trek convention this past weekend was that I met 6 amazing prop collectors during the show. It was kind of funny, as I kept being introduced to collectors by other collectors! Ultimately though, it was not what I bought from IAW that made this such a great weekend, but who I met.

On Friday, I met Martin from Germany (eBay handle: Filmwelt_Berlin). Those of us who went to Christie's remember him as he won a lot of stuff, including the Enterprise Shuttle Pod full size set. A few months ago I emailed him and we have been corresponding ever since. Martin was very gracious to let me win the Admiral Janeway costume a few months ago (which he wanted to) and we email each other regularly. It was good to finally meet him in person!

Standing around the IAW booth, I met Willie Bath, who is a well known collector from the UK, Willie in turn introduced me to Ken Friedman, a long time collector and dealer, with an impressive collection. Both guys were fantastic folk and we spent a great deal of time all weekend chatting. Ken is actually a dealer, selling props and autographs full time. He had a booth at the show and will again in Vegas. Willie is from the UK and has outbid me on a few items on IAW in the past (some of which he actually picked up from IAW at the event).

One of the things I don't like about many prop collectors is the level of secrecy that they maintain. While I understand it sometimes, as many just don't want people to know what they have, I prefer exchanging information and networking. For me, the social element of collecting is very important. Both Willie and Ken are very outgoing and love sharing stories and information.. While Willie has only been collecting for about 5 years, Ken has been collecting for over 20 and had a great perspective on the market for Star Trek uniforms over the past 10 years. He was telling me how before Christie's, costumes from all the new shows would go for $ 10-25,000 because you simply couldn't get them, and that Christie's and IAW have dramatically changed that. Good news for all of us new collectors, but bad news for collectors who paid high years ago for main character stuff. I learned a ton from both of these guys and they helped make the show that much more rewarding.

Friday afternoon, my good buddy Jason White (www.moviepropking.com) called me as one of his collecting buddies was going to be at the show and he wanted me to meet him. Now, this collector is one of those who is very private and so I am going to call him "Mr. X". He has what has to be the best collection of Star Trek props anywhere. He had great contacts in Paramount and has been collecting for years. We went to dinner Friday night and he shared stories with me and gave me a ton of information. A truly nice guy, I understand why he doesn't like the limelight and I respect that. But even with the very private collectors like Mr. X, if they like you and you come well referenced, they love sharing stories about their collections and the hobby. His insights were really great and I learned so much, it was like an education in Star Trek props. On Saturday he brought a part of his collection and showed me about 40 amazing Star Trek props from Phasers to Tricorders to the first mobile holo-emitter. It was educational and much appreciated.

Then Saturday, Brett Jones, who is the genius behind Federation Surplus (the best Star Trek replica prop guy in the business) introduced me to his buddy John Castillo. I was just leaving the parking lot to go meet Brett for lunch, when Brett calls me and asks me to meet John as he had a ST: TMP bio-buckle that Brett was going to borrow for reference material. John was practically standing in front of me on the sidewalk and so I got to meet and chat with him at length. What was funny was that John knew who I was because he reads my blog every day! John lives up near Fresno, so he had to leave that night, but before he did I helped him pick out a great ST: TMP costume from IAW as John really wanted one. A beautiful costume, it had a mint bio-monitor buckle and pants with built in shoes. It looked pretty sharp and John got a great deal.

The last guy I need to mention is Brett Jones of Federation Surplus. Now replicas are a point of contention for many prop collectors who are worried about the hacks who sell fakes as "Screen used". And while there are a ton of them out there, Brett is very clear that he is making replicas and you will never find him passing stuff off as real, screen used or production made. He has an incredible passion for what he does (he does Federation Surplus full time) and is an absolutely insane perfectionist. I visited his shop and he went through his process with me and how he identifies fakes and the differences between good and bad repros. He gave me two Next Gen comm badges and some pips for my Sisko uniform, and he recently cast the admiral's pin from my Janeway Admiral uniform and I have to tell you, he did an unbelievable job. There is simply NO ONE in the business who does better work than him. If you need Comm badges for your uniforms, want a Phaser or Tricorder, or just about anything, Brett is the man. Plus he is one of the nicest, funniest guys I know. We went to dinner with his lovely girlfriend Toni, and we all had a great time (although she must have been bored listening to us geeks talk about Star Trek all night!).

Overall, I haven't had this much fun since Christie's weekend. I made 4 new prop collecting friends, got to meet Martin from Germany, hang out with Brett and see his shop, and just have a great time doing what I love. I hope you all make an effort to come to the Vegas con in August, as I know many of us will be there and I have already spoken to Creation about doing a panel on Star Trek Prop and Costume Collecting with IAW and a few long time collectors Some of us have even discussed buying a booth to sell some of what we have for sale, and if you are interested in being a part of that, let me know. Either way I am looking forward to seeing everyone at Vegas. (find out more about the Vegas show here.)

Also, my apologies to the two adorable little kids, Kendra and Karson (pictured above), brother and Sister, who were dressed up in classic Star Trek uniforms, as I had taken photos of them, and unfortunately the photos disappeared with my camera! Fortunately, their Dad supplied me with one today.

Alec