There is an interesting video of an ABC News interview with LiveAuctioneers CEO Julian Ellison about this week’s Profiles in History auction events (see Hollywood Auction 33 & Hollywood Auction 34) – with absolutely no mention of Profiles in History whatsoever.
The four and a half minute interview can be found at ABCnews.go.com:
As is typical with mainstream media reports on the hobby, the focus appears to be on prices and values.
If a non-hobbyist/non-collector were to view this segment – which makes absolutely no mention of Profiles in History – one might assume that LiveAuctioneers is the auction house, rather than a “gateway linking bidders to traditional auction events broadcast in real-time via the Internet” (per the LiveAuctioneers website).
Also, Mr. Ellison’s answers to certain questions and ambiguous use of “we” could further make a non-collector assume his company has put this auction together.
In reference to the Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom fedora, Mr. Ellison was given an opportunity to talk about “who” the actual auction house is, but seemed to change the subject to provenance:
ABC News: But who sets that initial estimate?
Mr. Ellison: Well, first of all, provenance is very important. All of the items that we’re selling have great provenance. And, you might have a certificate from a studio. And then, obviously, these items have been purchased by collectors in the past. And so you’ve got auction records so you can see, you know, how much the item went for in the past. And then obviously, once you’ve got people bidding against each other, the prices just go up and up.
ABC News: And you could say maybe there were two of them; I’m sure during the course of filming, there was more than one fedora?
Mr. Ellison: Absolutely, but there’s only one which has this kind of provenance. It’s a very important piece indeed.
I think it is interesting that Mr. Ellison would answer a question about who sets the estimates by emphasizing the provenance – and then fail to detail why the provenance is peerless with regards to this specific Indy fedora.
In fact, the Indy fedora and Indy bullwhip have been the subject of debate among the Indiana Jones collectors and specialists of the Club Obi Wan forum on the IndyGear.com website:
Also, with regards to the Batman Begins cowl, some information presented as fact is not accurate:
ABC News: …how much for Christian Bale’s Batman costume?
Mr. Ellison: We’re looking here at thirty to fifty thousand dollars. This is a very, very rare piece. It’s the only known piece outside of the studio collection, and we have a signed certificate from the studio, so it’s going to be really interesting to see just where this piece goes.
I can’t fault someone for a lack of knowledge, but if you are going to introduce information as fact, it is appropriate to have a correction.
An original Christian Bale Batman Begins cowl was sold by Bonhams in November 2005 as part of their “Sale 11808 – Rock n’ Roll & Film Memorabilia including James Bond” (LINK).
As can be seen in the Bonhams archives, the Bale cowl comprising Lot 602 sold for £9,600 including buyer’s premium (LINK). This piece, too, included an official Warner Bros. studio certificate of authenticity. It was purchased by Stephen Lane of The Prop Store of London and is now part of The Prop Store Collection (LINK):
Special thanks to Willie on the Movie Prop Forum for the notice about the video.
Lastly, these two Profiles in History auction events held this week will be the last in which collectors can bid via eBay Live Auctions – it appears that LiveAuctioneers will fill the void left by eBay closing down their live auction service (see LiveAuctioneers Positioning To Take eBay Live Auctions Business).
Jason De Bord