As I have heard from various hobbyists over the past several months, it is finally publicly announced that Elstree Props was sold. The new owner has contacted me via e-mail and launched a new website today which includes a formal announcement.
As covered late last year (see Elstree Props Retiring, Offering Business For Sale, Update), Paul Harrison announced the business for sale in November 2007 on eBay.
The URL remains the same – www.ElstreeProps.com – but visitors will note that the site and content has been redesigned and updated.
The following is the applicable announcement from the News and Events page:
New Ownership
9/27/2008 6:24:58 PMAs you may have read, Elstree Film Props Ltd (T/a Elstreeprops.com) has come under new ownership and plans on taking the company back up to the top of its game. I know that there have been posts on the prop forums in the past regarding the previous owners and some of the props that were previously sold, but the new owners are now dealing directly with the Studios, Verified and respected prop dealers and Cast and Crew to obtain genuine props and wardrobes from films.
The Danziger Collection belonged to the old owners and we bought their collection plus the name “Danziger Collection”, this is now going to be archived but still owned by us. Our new collections will be called “The Elstree Film Props Ltd” Collection.
We assure you that the items that we provide are genuine and will offer copies of the certificates obtained by us regarding the item. We will keep the original certificates in our archives in case of certificate losses and items being moved on.
If you have any questions or queries regarding the new ownership, please call us at the Studio on 0208-324-2375.
Many thanks
Steve & the Elstree Props Team
More from the About Us page:
Elstreeprops.com has been based at Elstree Studios for eight years now and came under new ownership in February 2008.
We are also now available on Facebook here.
We have had many celebrities in the studio and a few of them have come in for a visit to the Elstree Props workshop (see photos below). We have worked with some major music celebrities too, including Alicia Keys and Sonnie J.
Since the change of ownership, the company has started making props for productions again and has strengthened its prop hire business. Over the last few months, Props have been hired out to productions in the studio and also to the BBC and Channel 4.
As noted, I did receive an e-mail today from Steve Wickenden, with information about the change of ownership, the “golden gun” reported stolen that has received worldwide media attention (see James Bond “Golden Gun” Reported Stolen from Elstree Studios, Questions…, and …Update), and other topics, but it included a disclaimer noting it was not for public consumption, so I will honor that request. I will note that I do have some outstanding questions about a variety of topics, including the change of ownership (i.e. what is the status of authenticity guarantees made on props sold by the prior owners operating the same company?), the “golden gun” (as outlined in a recent article), and other topics.
Given the change of ownership – announced as having taken place in February 2008 – I have split out the previous Elstree Props category on the Original Prop Blog into two designations:
I have invited Mr. Wickenden to contribute a message intended for public consumption, if he would like, to cover any number of relevant topics to his change of ownership, future plans, the “golden gun” reported stolen, or other appropriate content, which I am happy to publish and share with the readers of this website.
I do sincerely wish Mr. Wickenden the best with his new endeavor.
Jason De Bord