Michael O’Keeffe with the New York Daily News continues to chronicle the ongoing saga surrounding Mastro Auctions and the Justice Department’s prosecution of principals from the sports memorabilia auction house, based on the FBI investigation that began in 2007. Yesterday, prosecutor filed papers with the Chicago federal court seeking a 57 month prison term for former Mastro Auctions president, Doug Allen, as a result of his “outright contempt” for law enforcement. [Read more…]
Heritage Auction Galleries has published on their latest online catalog and listings for their upcoming event, “Entertainment & Music Memorabilia Signature Auction – Beverly Hills #7159”, to be held February 20th in Dallas, Texas. The sale features 601 lots of music and rock and roll items and vintage/classic Hollywood stars and personally owned items/estate items. [Read more…]
A stunt blaster prop attributed to use by Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back failed to attract any bids at it’s hopeful $200,000 starting price in the most recent Nate D. Sanders auction last week. Though featuring an interesting history and a prior sale at Sotheby’s, as well as a lot of mainstream media attention leading up to the auction (see CNBC, CBS, Reuters, MSN, EW, Daily Mail, NBC, etc.), the “jackpot” reserve strategy employed by Hollywood memorabilia auction houses that I’ve frequently written about seemed to be the barrier to sale. [Read more…]
Following Mark Hamill‘s “hands on” approach to combating autograph fraud last month (see Revenge of the Jedi: Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) Uses Twitter To Strike Down Memorabilia Fraud), the actor has now teamed up with California Assemblywoman Ling Ling Chang (R-Diamond Bar), who had already begun work on AB 1570, which would require certificates of authenticity (COAs) for autographed memorabilia sold in California and/or to Californians. I’m particularly interested in these developments as I’ve been writing about the mechanics about COAs and issues regarding guarantees and warranties as well, and of course the rampant fraud in the marketplace as a result of criminals using worthless COAs as a tool to sell fraudulent memorabilia. [Read more…]
Below is the latest updated calendar for upcoming original movie and television prop, wardrobe, and memorabilia auction events. Please contact me if you are aware of any coming events of interest to collectors. Please also note that I update changes/additions to the calendar until the next update, in order to maintain as up to date as possible. [Read more…]
As per tradition, (see 2007 Year in Review, 2008 Year in Review, 2009 Year in Review, 2010 Year in Review, 2011 Year in Review, 2012 Year in Review, 2013 Year in Review, 2014 Year in Review), what follows is an editorial featuring my personal observations and opinions with regards to the business of buying, collecting, selling, and preserving original pop culture artifacts. A look back at interesting trends, developments, and news stories from 2015. As is always the case, this is a completely subjective exercise, and merely touches on the developments and events that relate to the hobby. [Read more…]