Khan Tunic at San Diego Comic Con and Prop Store items.

The second Khan costume in 4 months has hit the market and it is the iconic (A term very over-used by a certain person) version from which Ricardo Montalban showed off his very real pecs!   Certainly this is the most desirable villain costume from the Star Trek movies  and since Star trek II is one of the best science fiction movies of all time, the costume is the a legitimate Holy Grail for any Star Trek collector.

This is NOT the costume that was previously sold by Profiles in History at the Bob Justman Auction in 2002.  That costume sold for $ 25,000 or so (don't have the exact # unfortunately), but also had boots, his necklace and the bandolier type piece that you see across his chest.  This costume, being sold 9 years later, has a price tag of $ 35,000.  

Now, the Khan "reveal" wrap and visor display that was sold at Profiles in April originally sold at the Bob Justman auction in 2002.  It sold then for $ 25,000 .  It sold for $ 32,500 at profiles in April, which was the opening bid and the bottom range of the estimate.  If someone has specifics on either of these, please let me know.

So is this Star Trek costume priced right?  I think so.  This is certainly more desirable than the visor/wrap.  And while this is not as complete as the one sold at the Bob Justman auction, it is still probably the most desirable non-TOS costume out there, with the exception of maybe Kirk's ST II:TWOK Maroon.  And we know that went for $ 37,500 at Heritage last Fall. (But probably an aberration since I was the under-bidder and absolutely deluded to bid that much.  I blame my friend Jack for egging me on!).  If the more complete Khan from the Bob Justman auction were to hit the market, it would probably be a $ 40-50,000 costume.  So $ 35,000 for a less complete one would make sense.

It will be interesting to see if the Khan piece sells. The two other big pieces from the collection that Prop Store was consigned, The Finnegan costume and the Uhura uniform mini-dress, have both sold already in private sales. 

Good Hunting!

Alec

The Shuttlecraft Galileo - Part II

The Shuttlecraft Galileo - Part II

By Steve Thomas

The final design of the Shuttlecraft shows a sleek craft that does not allow occupants the headroom to stand up fully (unless you’re under 5-1/2 feet tall). This was intentional as the shuttle was intended to be a compact vehicle, kind of like a mini-van. However, for “The Galileo Seven” episode, it was elected to build (also by AMT) a stand-up interior for best dramatic effect. The rear compartment is larger and even included a magical second hatch not seen on the exterior!

Compare these screencaps with Leonard Nimoy (6’-1”) inside the interior shuttle set, and Mark Leonard (6’) outside the door of the mock-up.

These are the drawings of the finished shuttle by Franz Joseph (Schnaubelt), of the infamous “Star Fleet Technical Manual” and “Constitution Class Blueprints.

The Galileo model kit actually came out in 1974, 5 years after Star Trek was cancelled! The entire line of “Star Trek” models would prove to be very profitable for AMT!

In the series, the Galileo was “destroyed” in “The Galileo Seven” episode, but returned in “The Doomsday Machine” (#35-presumably), “Metamorphosis” (#38), “Journey to Babel (#39) and “Immunity Syndrome” (#47- where it was destroyed again). It appeared as the “Galileo II” in the third season episode “Way to Eden” (#75). It was easier and inexpensive to paint “II” on the mock up than re-letter a new name and designation; but because of the continuity overlook of its second destruction, it should have been “Galileo II” in “Metamorphosis” and “Galileo III” in “Way to Eden”.

POST CANCELLATION 

After 3 seasons, Star Trek was canceled in 1969. Paramount donated the shuttle mock up to “The Braille Institute” in Los Angeles, where it was used as a plaything for the young students. However, because of safety concerns, they sold it to Roger Hiseman of Palos Verdes, who wanted it for his older son. For whatever the reason, Mr. Hiseman kept the shuttle in his front yard, where it was considered an eyesore by his neighbors.

They petitioned that it be removed, and luckily for the owner, a man named Stephen Haskins bought the shuttle from him. Mr. Haskins paid about $8500 to restore the Galileo and in 1986, it was unveiled and displayed at the California “Creation” Convention celebrating the 20th anniversary of “Star Trek”.

When not on display, the Galileo was stored in the open (!), uncovered and exposed to the elements. She was restored twice more, but ultimately left to ruin, physical damage and at some point, it was even filled with sand! Here she rots amongst old RVs and busses in California.

HER SECOND RESTORATION

In 1989 for $3000, the Galileo was purchased by Lynne Miller of Akron, Ohio. Her plan was to restore the shuttle once again; ultimately to display it at the National Air & Space Museum alongside the shooting model of the Enterprise. To help raise money for the project, she displayed the shuttle at the “LaGrangeCon” convention in Cleveland, sponsored by the Akron chapter of the “Starfleet International” Star Trek club “USS LaGrange” and Vulkon conventions.

Commemorative t-shirts were sold to raise funds, and con attendees could see the Galileo and the beginnings of her restoration under a tent outside of the con hotel.

Members of her restoration team included Tim Gillespie and William “Buck” Krause. They along with Lynne are members of the USS Lagrange. Here’s a video put together by the “Galileo Restoration” team, documenting her condition before her transport to Ohio, and showing the start of her restoration.

http://galileo.danawheels.net/91-93%20galileo%20photos/galileo91.wmv

Here are pictures of the Galileo kept and worked on in a hangar at the Akron-Canton Airport in 1992. The 2nd pic shows prop-maker Ed Miarecki (l) visiting with restoration team members Buck Krause (c) and Tim Homa (r).

HER 3rd DEMISE

In 1993, the owner and her restoration team had a falling out and parted ways. Not much was known as to the condition of the Galileo after the parting. She was moved from the Akron airport as the hangar property was sold and the hangar demolished. After that, the Galileo’s location was a mystery.

In 2009 on the “Hobbytalk” forum, Phil Broad, who is a Galileo aficionado with an excellent site dedicated to the shuttle, “Cloudster.com”, related these details about the Galileo:

“The woman who owned it had it moved to a sand blasting company in Akron, Ohio. She wanted to have some work done on it but eventually it became clear to the owner of the company that she was not coming back, they never heard from her again and could not reach her via the phone number she left with them.

The mock up sat in their storage yard for over 5 years with no one coming forward to claim it. Finally, I was contacted by a local fan who stumbled across it by accident when he went to that company and who suggested that it needed to be "rescued". Well, he was right but there were so many issues and costs involved that I could not see any practical way to do it.

Last year the company went out of business and their property was cleared out, the Shuttlecraft disappeared at this time. It is not known if the original owner came and got it or if some other fans rescued it or if it was bulldozed. More than likely it was demolished.”

With this discovery, I contacted Tim Gillespie of the restoration team and who lived near the yard, to try to find out more. Tim went out to the yard, and verified that it was no longer there. I’m hoping it may have been taken by someone who recognized what it was, or possibly that it was reclaimed by the owner. Attempts to date to find the owner have failed. At this point I believe once the owner is found, she will be able to reveal if she still has it, sold it, or if it was abandoned and left for trash. I and many others hope it wasn’t trashed.

Recently, on Doug Drexler’s blog “Drexfiles”, Tim Gillespie posted the following in response to a poster who suggested her restoration was “mishandled” by the “USS LaGrange” club. He also supplies details about how the restoration team and owner Lynne Miller parted ways.

This may be a bit late but I want to clarify something concerning the USS Lagrange and the restoration of the Galileo Shuttlecraft.

The Galileo was the sole property of Lynne Miller. Although some chapter members assisted Lynne from time to time and two of our members were handling the actual restoration, all the decisions regarding the shuttle were in the hands of Lynne. As club president at the time (and knowing Lynne as I did), I insisted that anything regarding the shuttle was done purely at Lynne’s discretion and not as an “official” Lagrange project. Lynne was a very difficult person to deal with and when the inevitable problems arose (and they did) I didn’t want any fingers pointed at the chapter. To suggest that the Lagrange “mishandled” the Galileo is completely wrong. We neither owned it nor did we make any decisions regarding it. Whatever happened to the Galileo was completely the responsibility of Lynne Miller.

Personally, I haven’t seen Lynne Miller since 1998 when I left Trek fandom for good. If I had to guess, the Galileo no longer exists or it is in such disrepair that it is no longer salvageable. It was not something you could move around easily and required constant upkeep. Bill and Tom, when they gave up the project due to problems with Lynne, had completed most of the restoration of the main hull. Bill Krause is probably one of the most talented and meticulous people you could ever hope to meet and I assure you what they did with the restoration was first class. However, if this thing has been hauled around from location to location and left outside for any length of time without proper storage, it’s just not going to hold up. You have to remember that it was a prop – meant to be used on a soundstage and then discarded. It wasn’t built to withstand California sandstorms and Ohio winters. The guys did the best they could with it under difficult conditions but God only knows what has happened to it in the last 13 years. I know how much such an iconic piece of Trek history means to many out there, but actually owning this white elephant, if it exists, would be a huge, major undertaking – a veritable money pit, if you will.

Sorry about rambling on so much, but I get a bit touchy when someone disses the’ol Lagrange (not to be confused with the ‘current’ Lagrange).

A NEW DEVELOPMENT

Before completing this article, I thought to see if there might be more recent aerial photos of the Galileo in that yard…then I found this aerial view on Bing:

This appears to be a more recent view of the yard. It shows the shuttle covered in a tarp in another location behind a truck! The yard where she was has been cleared. If this view is more recent then the “Google Earth” or “MS Virtual Earth” views, then it’s very possible the Galileo survives! Either the owner has her or someone else. There may still be “possibilities”!

WHITHER GALILEO?

An attempt is now underway to locate the owner to learn the fate of the Galileo. If she was not destroyed then there is the chance that a prominent “Star Trek” prop collector/dealer and businessman will buy her and (hopefully) see to her final and complete restoration! And if the worst is confirmed, I personally hope that this businessman will consider approaching AMT (now “AMT/ERTL”) to build a new Galileo…the “Galileo II”

SOURCES

Star Trek screencaps – http://www.Trekcore.com

Matt Jefferies drawings - "Forgotten Trek" Frank Ottens http://www.ottens.co.uk/forgottentrek/

Matt Jefferies pic - Mattjefferies.com

Gene Winfield pic and quote - http://www.c-we.com/piranha/GeneWinfield.htm

Thomas Kellog pic - Drexfiles.com

Thomas Kellogg shuttle drawing - "Forgotten Trek"

Jefferies shuttle 3-d model - http://redspar.smugmug.com/3d-Models/Matt-Jefferies-Shuttle-3d/7003916_MNWiB#507218130_QYpdD

AMT shuttle construction pics - Phil Broad

http://www.cloudster.com/Sets&Vehicles/STShuttlecraft/GalileoTop.htm

AMT Galileo, Klingon & Enterprise model box covers - Internet

Shuttle blueprint drawings - "Star Fleet Technical Manual" by Franz Joseph (Internet)

Galileo in Roger Hiseman's yard - from Roger Romage

Galileo at Creation Con - Gerald Gurian http://startrekpropauthority.blogspot.com/2008/10/galileo-shuttlecraft.html

Galileo in junk lot - Phil Broad

Galileo at "LaGrangecon" - Greg Tyler - http://www.trekplace.com/article11.html

The Shuttlecraft Galileo - Part I

The Shuttlecraft Galileo

By Steve Thomas

September 8, 1966…or “Stardate: 6609.8” if you will. A date that marks the television premiere of what would become an American icon in science fiction: “Star Trek”. So much of what came from that show is such a part of our society and of our planet, that’s it’s hard to imagine what things would be like if “Star Trek” had never been.

The iconic starship “USS Enterprise” was the ship that took our imaginations on a great ride. And aboard each version of the Enterprise there have been shuttlecrafts; and of them, the equally iconic “Galileo NCC-1701/7”.

HER REALIZATION

In episode #13 “The Conscience of the King”, Kirk takes Lenore Karidian to the observation corridor that overlooks the hangar deck and refers to the shuttles there.

Though mentioned, the production couldn’t afford to build a shuttlecraft, which is why the transporter was so prominent. Transporter effects were inexpensive versus shuttle effects. In “The Enemy Within” (#5), Sulu and his landing party could’ve been easily saved by shuttle when the transporter (and apparently all transporters) was damaged. 

Episode #14 “The Galileo Seven”, finally revealed this previously unseen aspect of the Enterprise. Production designer Walter “Matt” Jefferies, who designed the Enterprise, was asked to design a shuttlecraft. What he came up with was craft that was sleek, smooth and curved.

Its curvilinear lines were evocative of her mothership, but such lines also made it too costly to construct.  Jefferies also sketched ideas for other vehicles like this “Space Dock Utility Craft” (look familiar?):

WHO DESIGNED HER?

Gene Winfield

At this point, things get interesting. The model company “AMT” offered to build the full-scale mock-up of the shuttle in trade for the model kit rights (AMT had the license for the Enterprise and Klingon ship models). They turned to custom car designer Gene Winfield, who was head of their “Speed & Custom Shop”.

“We built the [Star Trek] shuttlecraft, full-size shuttlecraft that was two separate units,” Winfield said. “One would be a complete exterior, full size. Then we built the complete interior. This interior had what we called ‘wild’ walls. What you do is you make the walls in four-foot sections on wheels so you can put up one wall and they could film the actors sitting on the seats and whatnot.

Matt Jeffries

Note that he says “built” the shuttle, not “designed” and built. There apparently was some connection with AMT and/or Gene Winfield with industrial designer Thomas Kellogg. He is known for designing the Studebaker “Avanti” – its front end styling similar to the Galileo’s front end).  Here is his shuttle design:

It should be noted that in an interview, Matt Jefferies says that Winfield designed the shuttle, but Thomas Kellogg’s obituary also states the he designed the shuttle. I believe it was a collaborative effort, with Jefferies “utility vehicle” selected as a base design by Kellogg, who was working under Winfield; and Jefferies putting the finishing touches on that design. Winfield’s department constructed the finished design.

Were Jefferies original design built, the Galileo would’ve looked mostly like this 3-D model by Vance Bergstrom:

HER CONSTRUCTION

AMT’s offer to build the shuttle allowed the production to go ahead with “The Galileo Seven” episode. Here are pics of the Galileo under construction at AMT Phoenix.

Part II Tomorrow!

Propworx Star Trek Auction II Results - Part 2 The Props

So here is the second part of the Propworx Star Trek Auction II review.  This time we analyze the prop sales.  

Now, overall, Star Trek props have settled into a nice rhythm.  We tend to know the ranges of most items, and none of them are too pricey, except when you deal with ship models and most of those aren't coming back up for sale.

While not technically a prop, Lot 45, the Excelsior Study model, was a beautiful piece and from the Okudas personal collection.  At $ 1,400 it was a pretty good buy in my book.

WEAPONS

There were a bunch of weapons in this auction and they all went at reasonable prices.

The TNG Cobrahead Phaser at $ 1,800 was about right.  I am not sure if there is any perceived difference between a light weight roto-cast resin Phaser and a heavier one, but I think all of these type of Phaser in the $ 1,500 - 2,000 range is pretty standard now.

The Nemesis Dolphin Phaser at $ 2,000 proves this too.  We don't see many of this type of Phaser and I won this for my personal collection (the only item I really wanted!).  If you are a Starfleet weapon completest like I am, I think you will find this one of the harder ones to obtain.

The First Contact Phaser Rifle was production made but never screen used.  Still, it hit a strong $ 4,000, which is because this was the type of rifle that Picard used in his scene in his ready room with Lillie.  This one is fully lighted and so a great display piece.

The rubber Klingon DIsruptor at $ 1,600 was about right.  This is the iconic Klingon disruptor weapon.  If you collect weapons, one of these needs to be in your collection.  SO I think, even with Buyer's Premium, this is a good deal at under $ 2,000.

The Enterprise version continues not to do well, as this one only hit $ 1,000 with a holster.  This is surprising and I see some good potential in these long term.  I have one and think if you collect Klingon Weapons, you need one of these.  So buy now while prices are low.

The Bajoran Pistol was a rubber stunt I picked up at last year's Profiles in History auction for $ 500 and got $ 750 here.  So I was happy as I had recently won a resin one from Profiles.  I am not big on having to have a hero prop for my weapon collection, but I do want resin over rubber, and so was happy to upgrade here and make a couple bucks.

The Cardassian Phaser was a beauty and at $ 1,200 pretty fairly priced.  These display very well and so I think the winner got a nice piece.

Other weapon prices:

Ferengi Phaser $ 700

Tellarte Pistol $ 300

Son'a Shotgun $ 400

Buster Kincaid Ray Gun $ 1,400

Shinzon Blood Draw Knife  $ 1,400

Klingon Pain Stick $ 800

OTHER PROPS

There were 3 Tricorders for sale in this auction, and the screen used ones went very reasonably, while the replica went high!  Go figure!

Lot # 68, the hero medical Tricorder went for only $ 2,750.  This goes along with the recent trending down of Tricorder prices.  The recent sale at Profiles of a Mark VII Tricorder for only $ 2,250 marks an interesting downturn for Tricorders that this sale continues. 

Lot #  69 was the solid resin Tricorder with holster that went for $ 1,700, which was reasonable for a nice, very displayable piece.


And Lot # 70, the EFX replica, went for a very strong $ 800.  That was a shocker.


The screen used comm badges went for $ 650, 500 and 550, which pretty much sets the market for these items.  


The Nemesis Red PAD and Silver PADD went for $ 1,200 and $ 1,000 respctively.

And the best prop in the rest of the auction was the Defiant helm console, which came up for auction again after selling in the first Propworx Star Trek auction.


Now there are a few more props of note and I will cover them in my next post on the auction!


Alec

Star Trek items for sale by Art Director

Cherie Baker was one of two art directors working with Herman Zimmerman on Star Trek: Nemesis.  She contacted me as she had a couple of items for sale.  Please contact her directly if you are interested.  She can be reached at artqueenla@gmail.com.

This is the crew gift plaque given out by the director to everyone listed on the plaque.  This was not screen-used, but a crew gift.  It measures 10" x 14"  $ 500

This is a Deep Space Nine Technical Manual signed by both Herman Zimmerman and Doug Drexler  $ 50

B'Elanna Torres Borg Costume from Christie's

Well, another significant costume from the Christie's Star Trek auction is up for sale on eBay. And it appears the seller just took it to the local eBay store (those places that will sell your item on eBay for a %) which is a VERY bad idea. However, seller was smart enough to have saved the original invoice as well as providing good pics and a copy of the item in the Christie's catalog. None the less, here is some free advertising for that seller!

The eBay Auction Ad:

Own an awesome piece of Star Trek history - the original B'Elanna's Borg Costume.  Two-piece costume with jumpsuit and jacket made from cast latex painted as biochemical hardware and a pair of Borg boots with label inscribed "Roxann Dawson".  Designed by Robert Blackman and worn by Roxann Dawson as B'Elanna Torres in Borg from in "Unimatrix" in Star Trek: Voyager.  It is in good condition, but not perfect.  It has some wear, minor missing pieces of rubber and paint loss.  We had to carefully pry the costume apart as it has been in storage since it was shipped from Christie's in 2006 and some of the rubber was "stuck" together.  However, we were able to separate it without causing any real damage.

 

Note that the costume closed at $ 1,875

Propworx Star Trek Auction II Results - Part 1 The Costumes

Well, the Star Trek auction was a big success from a lot of perspectives.  Certainly the staff at Propworx is happy with the auction.  We have over 300 bidders from 18 countries bidding in this auction.  The auction totaled over $ 156,000 in sales. 

From the outset the auction was strong with the "Menagerie" Matte painting going for $ 12,000.  OK, so it isn't a costume, and I titled this blog "The Costumes".  Give me a break!  :-)  But we made this the first item in the auction because it deserved to be first.  Plus, we had a few bidders who we knew would also bid on the Red Dress, and we wanted to get this one out of the way, so the losing bidders could know they could bid on the red mini-dress.  The Matte painting is the first TOS matte painting to be offered by an auction house since this was sold over 15 years ago.

Now, when writing this section, I realized that most of the highest selling costumes were from my collection.  I really cleared out the closet and trimmed down my collection a great deal.  And I liked it too because a lot of my friends from the Star Trek Prop, Costume & Auction Forum won these costumes and they will now bring joy to them in their collections.
  
The Celeste Yarnell red mini-dress uniform went for $ 8,000.  I could have seen this going for a bit more, but none the less both buyer and seller were happy.  The dress was offered with TOS women's boots, which one rarely sees.

In fact both items went to Arnaud from France, a top collector in Europe and Propworx very first customer!  It was Arnuad that bought the Battlestar Galactica Viper in 2008. when we had just gotten up to Vancouver.  So we were happy that he got these very rare and precious Star Trek artifacts!

The beginning of the auction also had two amazing TNG costumes in the Worf Jumpsuit and the Tasha Yar dress uniform.  Both went for identical $ 3,750 bids.  The Worf went for $ 3,000 at Christie's, and although this wasn't that exact costume, it was identical, though without rank pins.

The Yar was one of the first costumes I got back in 2006.  After the Christie's Star Trek auction, the winner of the Lot that had this and Tasha's jumpsuit, wound up winning a Klingon Costume for almost $ 10,000.  he needed to sell the Yar's and I was happy to oblige.  I paid $ 1,500 each back then, so I did well in this auction off of it.  It is a beautiful costume, but I have her jumpsuit, which I find more appealing.  When I had my home in Atlanta, her jumpsuit was displayed next to the Carol Marcus, which made a truly awesome "Women of Star Trek" display.

There are actually boots that go with this that were misplaced in the move.  When I find them I will contact the winner.

Lot # 13 was Dr. Bashir's Future uniform from "The Visitor".  First off, "The Visitor" is one of the best Star Trek episodes EVER of any version.  It is the "Field of Dreams" of Star Trek, because if you are a guy, you will cry.  This is all about Jake and his Dad, and Tony Todd gives an emmy worthy performance.  So go watch it!

Now, why did I sell this?  Well, I bought The Doctor version of this costume from "Endgame" and that gave me all 4 major "Endgame" characters, Admiral Janeway, The Doctor, Miral Paris and Harry Kim.  So I have all 3 section colors, plus the Admiral is different in its trim.   And I wanted that selection so I could do a cool display.  So I really didn't need the Bashir.  It is a beautiful costume though and went for a reasonable  $ 2,100 with a future combadge!

There were 3 "Captain Proton" costumes in the auction.  Of course, they all belonged to me.  Last summer, when I didn't get the Captain Proton laser gun from the Profiles in History auction, I kind of lost my interest in the Captain.  Plus, now that I live in California and have about 1/3 the space I used to, I have to trim my collection down as I simply do not have the space to display everything.  And for me a costume not displayed is a major problem!  So I decided to sell these items, and I am happy they found good homes.  

The Lonzak costume went for a very reasonable $ 600.  It is an amazing costume with lots of cool parts.  The Delaney Sisters "Demonica" and "Malicia" costumes went to the same buyer overseas.  I am happy that is the case, as I hope the buyer gets two female friends to wear them to a con and then show off photos!  The costumes are really beautiful with velvet bodysuits and intricate details. 

The final costume from my collection that I am highlighting here, is the Keith Carradine "A.G. Robinson" costume from the Enterprise episode "First Flight".    Now this is a standard "Enterprise" blue jumpsuit, in command gold, and this one even had a pair of boots.  Though why they are hiking boots I do not know!  But this was a great episode and I really liked it.  Carradine is of course an accomplished actor and pulled his brash character off well.

I thought this was an important costume when I got it and I think someone got a great deal as this costume only went for $ 1,400.  In Starfleet history, AG Robinson was the first human to break the Warp 2 barrier.


Well, that is all for this entry.  I will have Costumes Part 2 up tomorrow!

Alec