Yesterday, celebrity news website TMZ published an “exclusive” feature about the upcoming Profiles in History auction, The Personal Property Auction of Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, scheduled for September 23rd. Below their attention-grabbing headline, TMZ explains, “Carrie Fisher’s most prized possessions are about to hit the auction block … but behind the scenes there’s a scramble because turns out some of the items weren’t hers at all”. [Read more…]
There was a tremendous amount of pre-auction mainstream media coverage about the motorcycle put on the auction block by Profiles in History last month, a lot of it generated from an AP story picked up by many news outlets that was titled “‘Easy Rider’ chopper at auction might be phony” (as of this time, that keyword search is resulting in 22,500 hits on Google). The day of the auction, and for a few days following, the most used headline was a variation on proclamations that it sold for $1.35 million. But, as a matter of public record, did it really sell? And if not, why has no media outlet (to my knowledge) reported on the sale falling through? [Read more…]
This is an update to the 2013 version of this same article. As with that 2013 feature, this one is prompted by another Bonhams auction offering for a fertility idol attributed to use in Raiders of the Lost Ark , this one referencing back to one of their older auctions in 2005. Due to public interest in discussing iconic props from the Indiana Jones films, and confusion in the marketplace with regards to the provenance and authentication of such pieces, I thought it appropriate to update my ongoing series of articles on the topic with the new information and photos (see: Raiders of the Lost Ark Fertility Idols In The Marketplace). [Read more…]
Premiere Props have listed their next auction with online bidding partners iCollector, Invaluable (formerly ArtFact), and proxibid (replacing LiveAuctioneers) as part of their “Hollywood VIP Auction III”. The two-day auction is scheduled for August 23rd. As with past auctions, the sale includes a mix of original props, costumes, and other film and television artifacts, as well as general Hollywood Memorabilia, all in no order or rhyme or reason apparent as to sequence or grouping. “Movie Props DNA (MPDNA)”, which seems to come and go with these sale events, is no where to be found in the lot descriptions this time around save for two lots (Lot #183 and Lot #224) out of more than 500. [Read more…]
Premiere Props have listed their next auction with online bidding partners iCollector, LiveAuctioneers, and Invaluable (formerly ArtFact) as part of their “Hollywood Extravaganza XIV”. The two-day auction is scheduled for June 21-22. As per usual, with less than a month before the sale, presumably a fraction of the full list of items have been put online as part of these auction catalogs. As with past auctions, the sale includes a mix of original props, costumes, and other film and television artifacts, as well as general Hollywood Memorabilia. “Movie Props DNA (MPDNA)”, which appeared absent in recent sales, is back and noted within some of the lot descriptions. [Read more…]
Premiere Props have listed their next auction with online bidding partners iCollector, LiveAuctioneers, and Invaluable (formerly ArtFact) as part of their “Hollywood Extravaganza XIII”. The two-day auction is scheduled for this weekend, March 22-23. The sale advertises over 1,000 lots (which includes a lot of autographed, posters, baseballs, and other memorabilia). As with past auctions, the sale includes a mix of original props, costumes, and other film and television artifacts, as well as general Hollywood Memorabilia. There are many vintage off the shelf antiques attributed to film and television productions with no explanation as to how and why such claims are made (like an ice cream scooper attributed to Back to the Future, a starfish from Jaws 2, or a Happy Days wooden box). Can someone produce a screencap of this helmet used in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers? [Read more…]
Premiere Props have listed their next auction with online bidding partners iCollector, LiveAuctioneers, and ArtFact as part of their “Hollywood Extravaganza XII”. The two-day auction is scheduled for November 23-24, currently featuring over 1,000 lots (though it appears more than half of that are not props and costumes but comic books, posters, and other memorabilia). As with past auctions, the sale includes a mix of original props, costumes, and other film and television artifacts, as well as general Hollywood Memorabilia. There are many vintage off the shelf antiques attributed to film and television productions with no explanation as to how and why such claims are made. [Read more…]
As is their usual procedure, Premiere Props has put up a portion of the lots for their upcoming sale (Hollywood Extravaganza XI on September 28-29) with online bidding partner iCollector, though with these lots each includes boilerplate information about authentication that has not been part of past auctions. Back in May, I made a public and literal plea for Premiere Props to put a real and substantive effort into authentication of their consignor-based auction material, and whether or not it is merely coincidental, it appears that they are doing just that starting with this upcoming auction, with “a panel of industry experts not affiliated with Premiere Props” called MovieProps DNA (MPDNA). While the “soft launch” of these changes raises many questions (which I will outline below), it is certain a significant step in the right direction. [Read more…]