Hollywood History launches with lots of Star Trek stuff!

My first friend in props (I met him in the line for Christie's Star Trek auction) Dana Hammontree, and Wesley Cannon, the admin of a popular movie prop blog, have launched "Hollywood History", a prop company dedicated to bringing props, costumes & such to collectors at reasonable prices. Dana has been collecting props & costumes longer than almost anyone I know and is a good person to start a new company to serve collectors.

Hollywood History joins The Prop Store of London and Screen Used Props in the field of direct sale and consignment of props & costumes through fixed price sales. While both PSOL and Screen Used are good companies with solid reputations, the problem with these sites has often been outrageous prices and high mark ups.

I know personally I have seen items on Screen Used at prices I would never pay. One Star Trek costume I was interested in was a bit expensive, disappeared from their site, and reappeared at twice the price! Now, to be fair, Screen Used is mostly consignment and they list items at the price their customers want. So if their customers are have unreasonable expectations, then the listed price will be high. But Screen Used has a great site (though the search is not very good as there is no search box) and makes great custom display cases. Jeff and Desi are well respected in the community and do a good job.

Also, there has been a lot of information coming out about the mark-ups that some prop shops charge. 100% - 500% or even higher mark ups are the norm it seems. In fact, frustration with these mark-ups was one of the reasons that Hollywood History was started.

Hollywood History will have to deal with the consignment pricing issues, but they have a few large collectors consigning who are not happy with the crazy prices in the hobby. Going through the site, I found all the Star Trek props & costumes are at reasonable prices (I even bought something!). Dana has said they will make sure that consignors don't ask for unrealistic prices, as they know that reflects poorly on them.

Hollywood History has a ton of Star Trek pieces, so check out their site, and know that Dana and Wes will take great care of you!

Alec

Fake TOS Phaser on eBay

Well, there is a fake TOS Phaser on eBay right now. It not only doesn't look right, but the Phaser has a hologram, similar to the ones we use at Propworx (though not as elegant!) on it with a COA from CBS!

Well, not really. That is what the seller claims. CBS has never, to my knowledge, handed out a COA like this, and they certainly don't authenticate 45 year old props.

I will keep you all posted on what the seller says, but in the mean time I have reported this to eBay and CBS.

Alec

More Star Trek Auction News

Well, it seems I need to put up an FAQ as I got bombarded with emails. So here is the skinny:

1) The Propworx Star Trek auction is tentatively scheduled for June 18-20 at the Pasadena Convention Center. We have a lot of deadlines, and the Star Trek Experience assets may force us to push this back. Stay tuned here.

2) The auction will be live, but as with the Battlestar Auctions, will have an Internet component so anyone anywhere can bid. There will be a preview day with panels of Star Trek artists, prop makers, costumes designers and more!

3) There will be a paper catalog, which will be in our new hardcover format. It will blow you away!

4) There are items from TOS, the movies, TNG, DS9, Voyager and Enterprise.

5) We are taking consignments for the auction. So if you have an item you are interested in submitting, please contact me at alec@propworx.com.

6) Please don't send me any questions on the Star Trek Experience assets yet. We are still working through details. And the warehouse sale date is currently TBD. Just follow this blog for updates.

Alec

Propworx Star Trek auction gets more interesting

Well, this week we had an interesting development. It looks like Propworx will be adding the physical assets of the Star Trek Experience from the Hilton into our Star Trek Auction.

This will mean the auction is being pushed into June for sure. At the moment it is scheduled for June 18-20 at the Pasadena Convention Center. Because we are producing an amazing catalog, and the Star Trek Experience assets need to be brought back from their current location to our warehouse, cleaned up, described and photographed and then put in the catalog layout.

So what is the story with the Star Trek Experience assets? Well, after the Experience closed, the show was taken apart. Everything from the museum part, which was the props & costumes, was put in a storage facility where it remains. of course most of those items were replicas, and most were not in great shape. The items were all on display under flourescent lights which of course damaged everything. All of the fixtures, tables from Quark's bar, walls, ships and store fixtures were taken down and put in a warehouse as the Experience was supposed to come back as a new ride in Neonopolis, a downtown Vegas destination.


The costumes the actors wore were also stored there along with all the seats from the two motion-control rides. We have some great items, like the Quark's bar signs (2), two of the portable bars from the upstairs private party area, all the custom made store fixtures from the retail area (truly beautiful!), Borg Alcoves, wall panels and seats from the new ride, which are like Captain's Chairs and you guys will go NUTS over them!

We are going to Vegas to move everything to our warehouse at the end of the month, but we will not be taking many items, including all the tables and chairs from Quark's Bar, most of the wall panels, and most likely the Borg Alcoves. These items will be sold at an on-location warehouse sale at a date TBA. Fans will be able to come, view the items and buy them on-site and take them home. More information to follow.


And if you have a LOT of room, feel free to contact me about the ships. The Klingon ship will be going back to Propworx for restoration. The Enterprise D is a total loss. The Enterprise A is HEAVY and HUGE but in good shape. The Voyager is as well.

Email me at alec@propworx.com for more info on the ships. For everything else, please wait for more updates here.

Alec

NOTE: CBS still plans on doing a new "Experience", but will not be using these assets, as these assets were very specific and customized to the Hilton Show.

Robert Fletcher's Kirk Concept Art

This popped up on eBay last week and I had to get it. I am a sucker for original costume concept art, and when I saw this, I realized I had found the perfect piece for my collection.

Robert Fletcher is the well known costume designer of Star Trek I - IV, and created the iconic maroon uniforms we all so covet. This peice is titled "Captain Kirk" but has no date. It appears to be a ST: TMP uniform, though the other three pieces the seller had for sale (Sulu, Chekov and the bar alien) are all from Star Trek III.

While my bid was higher than the $ 1,136 I paid, I am surprised it went this low. But of course we each have different perceptions of what items are worth based on our own emotional attachment to an item.

This item actually came in a nice frame that doesn't need changing. I met the seller, who lives in Palm Springs, and picked the item up. I was totally fired up when I saw it and bigger than I thought. I will have high res shots soon.

Alec

IAW selling Shuttlecraft Nacelle on eBay

Well, It's a Wrap has listed some more background set piece items from the Star Trek movie. Once again, mostly unspectacular pieces, but one item stands out, the Shuttlecraft Nacelle.

The only problem is it is 31' long!

This falls under "The Law of Big props" as I call it. Basiclaly, the bigger the prop, the less people interested, because 1) less people can afford it and 2) few people can store it!

So I am not sure who is going to buy this, but I doubt it gets big bucks. It is the best item we have seen so far, and the only item I have seen in the IAW inventory, that is somewhat interesting.

Alec

Star Trek: Generations Naval Costume

This costume has been on my want list for a while. I loved this seen in "Generations' and I have always liked this movie, especially the score, despite its long list of detractors. The opening scene is smart, inventive, and a great way to introduce the Next Gen cast to

When the last one of these costumes came up on the IAW auctions about two years ago, I backed off for my good friend Jim Williams. We didn't know it would be the last one they had, and of course, they may have had more and dumped it all to Martin from Germany in that grand "Let's get out of Star Trek" fiasco that prematurely ended the auctions.

Now, I am easy when it comes to backing off for a friend. The tight-knit community of the Star Trek Prop, Costume & Auction Forum has a group of collectors who always try and help each other out and not bid each other up. I have benefited from that courtesy many times, and always try and do the same. I mean, you don't need EVERYTHING! And Karma plays large in prop & costume collecting.

For a while I really hated not having one of these, as Jim's looked so good on display! But then, the last Romulan costume IAW auctioned came up, and I needed one badly for my DS9 collection, and so Jim backed off for me, so things worked out great.

Well, when my good buddy Giles Aston (you know him as the Picard look-alike) was selling a few items, and sold me his stunt Crusher Naval costume about a month ago. I was thrilled. And it had everything from boots to hat! Of course none of these costumes came with epaulets, which was probably because they were removed when the costumes were dry cleaned and then misplaced.

Of course, the story doesn't end there! Not two weeks later I get a call from Donna Sakaida, one of my favorite people in this hobby. She had just been in our offices comparing her rubber stunt Star Trek VI Assassin's rifle to my Hero (more on that next time) and seen my Naval costume. Well Donna tells me the HERO Crusher and Troi are on eBay and so she and I use BIN and get both of them.


I mean, you wait two years for one, and then you get the stunt AND the hero in under two weeks. How is that for patience paying off. Well, needless to say, I am selling the stunt. Who needs two of these anyway?

Good hunting!

Alec