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
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
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