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91st week of IAW auctions (auctions ending November 28th)
While this is the 91st week of auctions, It is titled Week 101 to be consistent with the Star Trek Auctions Archive.
There were only 77 items this past week, but some very strong costumes. There were also lots of great bargains as well. Total sales were $ 34,111 and the average item was $ 455. 12 items topped $ 1,000.
The Costumes
The Phase II Engineering Red Starfleet Uniform was the hot item this week and topped the chart at $ 3,701. The reason I think this went high, is that bidders realized those were a pair of pants, not from the series, but from one of the Pilots! James Cawley, of Star Trek New Voyages, and a very experienced collector, gave me the insight that the length and color were a give away. The Mork & Mindy emblem on the back is interesting and adds to the history of the costume. This was a very strong price, but we haven't seen many of these as they all sold at Christie's.
The Voyager Captain Janeway two-piece Uniform was a good deal at $3,101. As I pointed out though, the description was weak. IAW said the jumpsuit has a tag but not the jacket. Well, was the uniform found in the Janeway section? Were they together? Another example of sloppy recording of what is crucial information leads to shakey provenance. It probably was all together, but we should know for sure.
The DS9 Breen Costume Lot at $ 2,425 sadly had no helmet. Still these are awesome costumes and a helmet replica can be fabricated. I won the first of these to be auctioned and it is a beauty. The amount of effort that goes into making these is quite impressive. This costume also was missing the belt and holster and so those will have to be replicated as well.
I won the Lt. Ducane 29th Century Starfleet Uniform from "Relativity" costume, but have decided to sell it to my good buddy Josef from Austria, who worked so hard as photographer and layout designer on teh Battlestar Galactica auction catalog. This one is a beauty. I was hoping that I would be able to get all three colors, red, green abd Captain Braxton's blue, but I am told that the Braxton has been sold already. At $2,126 this went a bit higher than the previous ones, but those were all red versions and this is the first green version.
Captain Archer's Desert Uniform went to my good buddy Dana and was an absolute steal at $ 1,600! Certainly deal of the week. It had rank pips and boots and is a beuaty!
One other great costume worth mentioning is the Captain AG Robinson Starfleet Uniform from "First Flight". I won this one at $986 which was an awesome deal, and this would have been deal of teh week if the Archer hadn't gone so cheap! I am really excited about this one as I have a bunch of props from this episode and loved Keith Carradine in this role.
The Props:
The Captain Picard Circuitry Bay PADD at $1,213 was top prop this week. It was a light up version and thus a very good deal.
The USS Warp Core LCARS Panel went for a reasonable $1,002. I say reasonable because LCARS panels have held their value over the past two years. They seem to be the signature piece of TNG and later TV series and thus have sustained a strong demand.
THIS WEEK'S AWARDS:
Best Costume of the Week: The Phase II Engineering Red Starfleet Uniform at $ 3,701
.
Best Prop of the Week: The Captain Picard Circuitry Bay PADD at $1,213
Best Buy of the week: The Captain Archer's Desert Uniform at $ 1,600.
Worst Buy of the week: None! Keep up the good work!
Sleeper of the Week: T
he Captain AG Robinson Starfleet Uniform from "First Flight" at $986.
HIGHEST PRICED ITEM THAT SOLD
Star Trek: Phase II Engineering Red Starfleet Uniform at $ 3,701
Star Trek: Voyager Captain Janeway two-piece Uniform was a good deal at $3,101.
Star Trek: The DS9 Breen Costume Lot at $ 2,425.
Star Trek: The Lt. Ducane 29th Century Starfleet Uniform from "Relativity" at $ 2,126.
Star Trek: The Captain Archer's Desert Uniform at $ 1,600.
Alec
While Profiles in History has had entire catalogs devoted to Star Trek in the past, this auction, they have only one prop and one costume, but both are awesome. Note that this will be the last Profiles in History auction through eBay Live as eBay Live goes away at the end of the year.
The truly amazing Star Trek piece is the Gorn costume from TOS. Yeah, this is the one! It is in beautiful shape and just about as good a Star Trek Alien costume as you could get. (I don't think the Mugato costume survived!). The costume comes with the tunic and the gauntlets the Gorn wore. The Gorn costume itself, complete with big head, sold previously at Profiles.
The estimate is $ 10-12,000, but this should go no less than $ 15,000. This is truly a great piece of Star Trek history.
The Picard Phaser Rifle is a nice piece with excellent provenance. It comes from John Dwyer, long time Star Trek crewman, who worked on the original series as well as many of the movies.
I inspected the rifle and it has a few small missing pieces. The sight on top is missing the rear plastic targeting piece and the side panel which exposes the interior wiring for the working lights is gone. Both pieces could easily be duplicated by Brett Jones at Federation Surplus as he has one of these rifles. The front light appeared to be missing, but it may just have been pushed in. This rifle is a hero as it has the front vacu-formed removable piece to allow access to the batteries and lighting. Reasonable at the $ 4,000-6,000 estimate.Check out all Profiles items on eBay or on their web site.
Andy Klein from the Star Trek Prop, Costume & Auction Forum has a Data costume for sale and I offered to put it up on my blog. Contact Andy at andy@3rdchair.com.
From Andy: A Beautiful uniform used in the movie Star Trek: Insurrection by Brent Spiner as Lt. Commander Data. This is the costume that was used in the underwater scene in which Data walks into the lake with a Tricorder to investigate the source of emissions causing problems on the planet. Uniform is in fantastic condition and comes with costumers tag and Certificate of Authenticity from It’s a Wrap auctions.
Here is the original description from the auction:
STAR TREK IX: INSURRECTION “DATA'S UNDERWATER UNIFORM”
A costume featured in Star Trek IX: Insurrection for wear by “Data” as performed by Brent Spiner. The costume is a black Starfleet uniform jumpsuit with gray quilted shoulders, sewn on ‘away team' gear loops at the waist, and operations gold division strips sewn onto the cuffs with an operations gold long sleeve undershirt. The undershirt features a sewn on tag inscribed ‘Data, Brent Spiner, Wet Suit’ while the jumpsuit features a sewn in tag reading ‘Data, H20, work stunts, dry suit’.
Price is $1900 firm. This is exactly what I paid for the costume and I will provide free priority shipping to the buyer. The costume does NOT include the replica communication badge shown attached. Please email me with any questions or requests for more pictures at andy@3rdchair.com.
Two of my good friends in the collecting community have taken to blogging themselves for the purpose of showcasing their collections. Both Francis and Jim's sites are great examples of how to share your love for your favorite Star Trek costumes. I urge you to check them both out.
Niner's Paradise Jim is a big DS9 fan and so his collection has many great costumes from that show. I love chatting with Jim as his passions for DS9 run as deep as mine. He even has TWO Garak costumes! The greedy bastard! :-)
Ferengi Costumes. Francis was a hoot to have at Vegas this year. He even wore his costumes and got in a full Ferengi costume. He is also a major womanizer, so I think he fits the Ferengi role well. Francis is our resident Ferengi expert on the Star Trek Prop Forum. His blog uses the same tool (Blogger) I do, and Francis does a great job of filling in details on the costumes with screencaps.
Francis with Star Trek Prop Forum superstar costumer Suzie at Vegas
Alec
Vulcan Symbology and ClothingPart One: The TrinityBy Scott WilliamsWidely held Vulcan philosophy and beliefs require Vulcans to attain a state of mental order and tranquility. It is a lifelong goal of most Vulcans to reach this state. To do so, they use the techniques of T'san s'at (ST: VOY "Alter Ego). T'san s'at is the intellectual deconstruction of emotions and the effects of emotions on one's actions. The process of T'san s'at can involve years of meditation, study and struggle. In attaining a goal, it is often helpful to have a physical symbol to remind one of the journey they are on.As in most cultures, Vulcan religion and philosophy have many important symbols with diverse histories and meanings. No single symbol means the same thing to every Vulcan. However, there is a series of three symbols which appear with great consistency and across many different professional boundaries in Vulcan society. These are called Rata, Tafar and Tapan.Usually, these symbols are worn on the chest in a vertical column. Their meanings, translated into English, are Concept (Rata), Discipline (Tafar) and Process (Tapan). According to some, a poetic form may be associated to the unity of these symbols: "Branches entwined form the tree" (http://startrekpropcollector.com/trekauctions/items/4184). This would suggest that on their own, these symbols are but pieces of a larger whole and thus incomplete unless presented together. The concept of unity in Vulcan symbology is not unique to this Trinity. It can also be found in the Kol-Ut-Shan or IDIC (ST: VOY "Gravity"). IDIC is an acronym which stands for Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. The symbol which represents IDIC consists of an organic sphere which is pierced by a triangular shape. At the intersection of the two shapes there is a beautiful gem. This suggests that when two or more diverse objects, ideals or persons come together something unique and beautiful can be created. The IDIC symbol was used as early as the 4th century CE when it appeared on Surak's katric ark (ST: ENT "The Forge"). In that incarnation, the triangular portion was directly vertical where most later examples of the symbol have the triangular portion at an angle. To some, this has suggested a secondary meaning of the symbol as representative of Mount Seleya piercing the Vulcan sun. However, as the IDIC symbol is most often found on objects or as decoration on walls it has little bearing on our discussion of symbols and clothing. The IDIC has also taken the form of a medal and has sometimes been used as an award of merit. In these cases it is worn on the body but it has never been seen worked into the original design of clothing.Let us return to the Trinity of Rata, Tafar and Tapan. These symbols were in use as part of Vulcan clothing as early as April 5, 2063 when the Vulcan ship T'plana-Hath landed on Earth and Vulcans made "first contact" with Humans (ST: First Contact).
In these examples from 2063, the symbols are rendered in what has come to be called Vulcan calligraphy. All the later examples below are rendered in Vulcan print script.The symbols were in heavy use on clothing from 2151 through 2161 (ST: ENT "Broken Bow" through "These are the Voyages").
A careful examination of the images from 2063 and 2151 will reveal that it is not only the Trinity which remained in fashion during that time. The clothing worn by the commanding officer of the T'plana-Hath is nearly identical to that worn by the Vulcan to the far right in the 2151 image.In 2272, Spock wore the Trinity as part of his robe when he re-joined the crew of the Starfleet vessel Enterprise (ST: The Motion Picture).
After his death in 2285, Spock was buried in this same robe (ST: The Search for Spock).
Heretofore, the individuals whom we have seen wearing these symbols have mostly been politicians: world leaders, government officials and ambassadors. A notable exception is a Dr. Strom who was seen wearing the Trinity in 2152 (ST: ENT "Stigma"). It should be noted, however, that though Strom was a medical doctor he was working for the government. At this time in his life, Spock was not a political man. However, we know that in the 2270s, Spock was attempting to attain Kolinahr. More than simply a suppression of emotions as in the T'san s'at, Kolinahr represents an actual purging of emotions; the attaining of a state where one no longer feels at all. Though Spock did not attain Kolinahr it seems likely that the concept was still important to him. We can speculate that wearing the Trinity was a reminder to him of what he hoped to attain.When we next see the Trinity being worn it is in 2369 by Ambassador Lojal on his visit to space station Deep Space Nine (ST: DS9 "The Forsaken").
Also in 2369, we can see the Trinity being worn by Dr. T'Pan and her husband Dr. Christopher when they visited the Starfleet vessel USS Enterprise-D (ST: TNG "Suspicions").
Clearly, by 2369 the Trinity is being worn by persons in all segments of society. Indeed, it may be possible that this was always the case and we simply have not recorded it. Regardless, it can be said with some certainty that these three symbols are important elements of Vulcan culture. Anything that is important enough to wear upon one's person must have great personal or cultural significance. That significance need not necessarily be the same for every individual. In every culture there are religious and philosophical symbols which are worn by many individuals; both lay persons and officials. To each person, they likely mean something slightly different but equally important.This essay is to be followed by a second part which will focus more specifically on Vulcan religious symbols as they are integrated into clothing with specific emphasis on the religion surrounding Mount Seleya.AUTHOR'S NOTE:Very little of this essay can be considered accurate to Star Trek's "canon." The symbols I have referred to as the Trinity have never been discussed on-screen. My information regarding them comes from continuity photos as discussed in auction listings written by the folks at It's A Wrap! Since the information on these continuity photos was written by the actual Star Trek wardrobe department I have taken it as gospel but nothing that has not been discussed on screen is written in stone. Any errors are mine alone. Special thanks to everyone at The Star Trek Auction Listings Archive.Please feel free to contact me at ScottLukasWilliams@Hotmail.com with any questions or comments.It's A Wrap! Connections:Ambassador Lojal's costume from ST: DS9 "The Forsaken" was sold in an IAW auction on eBay as lot #2204.http://startrekpropcollector.com/trekauctions/items/2204Dr. Strom's costume from ST: ENT "Stigma" was sold in an IAW auction on eBay as lot #4184.http://startrekpropcollector.com/trekauctions/items/4184Dr. Christopher's costume from ST: TNG "Suspicions" was sold in an IAW auction on eBay as part of lot #5820.http://startrekpropcollector.com/trekauctions/items/5820A Tafar pin as worn on ST: ENT was sold in an IAW auction on eBay as lot # 8600.http://startrekpropcollector.com/trekauctions/items/8600A Tapan pin as worn on ST: ENT is being sold in an IAW auction on eBay as lot #9558.http://startrekpropcollector.com/trekauctions/items/9558
If you search on IAW this week, and order by highest price, you see 7 fantastic costumes. IAW has been jumping between low end props and costumes for weeks, and this is a good week for costumes. There are 7 good ones resting at the top of the heap with six days to go.
Everyone is talking about the Phase II Engineering Red Starfleet Uniform. This is an awesome piece with way more Star Trek history than anyone realizes. Bidding is already at $ 1,500 and I see this over $ 4,000. You've got to love the Mork & Mindy emblem on the back, which shows how costumes were treated back in the day. You also start to realize how under priced these items were ar Christie's. Maybe it was because they were some of the last items and there was buyer fatigue on day 3. Still, some people got a deal back then!
The TNG First Season Starfleet Uniform Jumpsuit is going strong at $ 1,225. Just a background piece, this one has been surprising. Of course command red is always a fave and always commands a premium over operations gold or sciences blue. This one will go well over $ 2,000.
The Voyager Captain Janeway two-piece Uniform is another example of bad descriptions by IAW. They say the jumpsuit has a tag but not the jacket. Well, was the uniform found in the Janeway section? Were they together? Sloppy recording of what is crucial information means questionable provenance. Now, I DO think this was probably all together, but we should know. My guess is this is NOT Colin's description but one of his minions. Colin is pretty accurate and careful. But this description is just woefully unacceptable. At $ 1,125 with 6 days to go, I see this around $ 3-4,000 and well worth it.
Captain Archer's Desert Uniform is pretty cool and has rank pips. Again, no mention of tags or how we know it is Archer's outside of the Pips. Well documented boots. I like this and think they look good on display. Also, costumes like this are cheaper ways to get a Captain. I see this around $ 2,500.
The Lt. Ducane 29th Century Starfleet Uniform from "Relativity" is a beauty. I have a red one, and this green one is the first we have seen of this color. A LOT of interest in this baby, and it is currently at $ 1,001. Previous ones have gone around $ 1,800 and a secondary market sale last week for a female version was at that price. Expect this to go near $ 2,500.
The Captain AG Robinson Starfleet Uniform from "First Flight" is a nice one, despite being ripped up in back. A memorable episode, this costume was worn by veteran actor Keith Carradine.
Finally, you have got to love Sybok! Well, Star Trek V sucked, let's face it. But 
Sybok was a great character and this costume is a great one. It comes with the outer robe. The last one went to the greatest Star Trek V collector in the world, Aaron Carlson for about $ 2,500, but that one was more complete and had boots. Still, this one should go in the $ 1,500-2,000 range.
Well, that is a bit of a preview of what is up this week. I don't do previews much, but this stuff deserved a good look as there is so much interest this week.
Good hunting!
Alec
The good folks at Screen Used props have Commodore Decker's TOS Insignia up for sale in a very nice display case for $ 3,999. The description reads: 
