Star Trek Summer Auction Preview

Well, now that all three summer Star Trek Auctions have their catalogs out, it is time for a brief review of the offerings. I will do this in chronological order. Full Disclosure: Propworx is my company so I might be a little biased! :-)

Auction: Profiles in History Hollywood Auction # 40

Where: Profiles in History Offices, Calabasas, CA

When: Saturday, June 12, 2010

Details: 292 lots, mostly hand props. Of this, 10 are TOS props & costumes with additional assorted ephemera. An excellent selection of props from TNG on up.

Highlights: Balock Puppet Head from TOS. 12 Tricorders in one auction!

Profiles is the biggest Hollywood memorabilia auction house. They have a 3 day auction and 1533 lots, of which 292 are Star Trek, which are auctioned on Day 3 of the sale. They have picked up the quality of their Star Trek research by using Jorg, so there are no mis-identifications and the descriptions are pretty accurate. Good photography with small screen shots of many items does most items justice. I would like to see bigger photos and less items per page; a difficult proposition with so many items though.

The auction will be trying for most collectors without big wallets in bad economic times. There are so many good items, and prices may be depressed with so much quality. I know I won't be able to afford all I want, but I hope prices will stay down and there will be some real bargains on the non-weaponry.


Auction: Julien's Summer Sale

Where: Planet Hollywood Hotel, Las Vegas, NV

When: Sunday, June 27, 2010

Details: Roddenberry Estate Sale, Shatner memorabilia, 17 JJ Movie props & costumes.

Highlights: The 17 items from the new Star Trek movie. Spock parka is the best piece.

The Roddenberry and Shatner stuff is mostly not of interest to prop & costume collectors. While Julien's does a great job with this catalog, I wonder how big the audience for these items are. The Roddenberry items are interesting, if only to give an insight to the Roddenberry's life. There are some great Majel Roddenberry Lwaxana Troi costumes that will go strong I think. Many of the Shatner items are incredibly BLAH! I mean toys?

The 17 new Star Trek movie items are all very good and the first we have seen for the most part. However, I think these will all go way too high. Collectors need to remember that these pieces are part of a much larger inventory that at some point will get sold by Paramount. So if you are patient, you can get what you want a few years form now much cheaper. I mean, how many Red Cadet costumes did you see in that movie?

The props are different. Not many of those. They will all go high. The communicator will go over $ 10,000 for sure. There is one item I am after and I expect to pay WAY too much. As long as you accept that you are over-paying, and you know that means you will probably not get your investment back, you will be fine.


Auction: Propworx Star Trek Auction

Where: Las Vegas Hilton, Las Vegas, NV

When: August 8, 2010

Details: Doug Drexler, Mike & Denise Okuda and Rick Sternbach collections.

Highlights: TOS Translight, Kirk Spacesuit filming miniature, 5 dedication plaques.

Oh what can I say? Certainly the most fun of all the auctions since it will be at the Creation Star Trek Convention! 5 days of Star Trek with a few dozen of the Star Trek Prop, Costume & Auction Forum members, is always a blast. There will be a special dinner get-together for Forum members and blog readers so be prepared to make new friends and socialize with old ones. Oh, and the auction!

I am too close to the Propworx auction to give a fair evaluation of it. We had a blast working on this auction and we know our passion shows through in the catalog. You can download it here.

We think there are some pretty amazing pieces in the auction and we tried to make the catalog something every collector will want, even if you don't bid in the auction. The Sternbach art and Okuda crew gifts both have items that will go in a price range any person can afford. On the other side, the TOS translight and Kirk Space Suit model from TMP are both top of the line. So something for everyone.

What we are shooting for is the best auction experience, and between the catalog and the live auction event, we are pretty sure we will achieve that. After all, life is about experiences, not stuff.


Well, come back tomorrow when I start my review of the Profiles auction!

Alec