Troika Brodsky, special guest. This is the eighteenth ‘Prop Talk’ podcast by the Original Prop Blog. Troika Brodsky is a hobbyist who has, over the past ten years or so, amassed the largest personal collection of Lord of the Rings props, costumes, and other material from the film trilogy. The collection will be auctioned by Julien’s Auctions (see official site) on December 5th as their “Trilogy Collection: Props & Costumes from Middle-Earth” auction event. The collection will also be part of a public exhibition at Newbridge Silverware Museum of Style Icons (MOSI) in Kildare, Ireland from October 23rd to November 17th.
Premiere Props ‘Hollywood Extravaganza XI’ Auction Catalog Online, Television & Movie Prop and Costume Sale Event September 28-29
Lots for Premiere Props’ September auction have been listed online with online bidding partners iCollector, LiveAuctioneers, and ArtFact as part of their “Hollywood Extravaganza XI”. The two-day auction is scheduled for September 28-29, currently featuring over 800 lots. 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. [Read more…]
Premiere Props ‘Hollywood VIP Auction IV’ Catalog Online, Television & Movie Prop and Costume Sale Event July 27th
Lots for Premiere Props’ July auction have been listed online with online bidding partner iCollector, as part of their “Hollywood VIP Auction IV”. The one-day auction is scheduled for July 27th, currently featuring over 300 lots. As with past auctions, the sale includes general memorabilia, along with some out of left lots like used Wizard magazines, Alf comic books, Star Trek talking lunchboxes, and other strangeness, that in my opinion undercuts their reputation as a dealer in this art market. Thankfully, it appears that a bulk of the material in the first few hundred lots are lots obtained from direct sources. [Read more…]
Premiere Props Offers Authenticated Fake Prop for Public Auction and the Hobby Says…
As reported a few weeks ago (see “Premiere Props Now In Business Of Selling “Authenticated” Forgery, Along With Premiere Props COA? (Star Trek Mark English Communicator)“), the entertainment memorabilia dealer tried to make lemons out of lemonade after being informed by third party observers that one of the pieces listed for public auction in their latest sale was a forgery. They changed the title and description for the lot in question, recasting the offering as an authenticated fake prop. I have just gotten around to looking up the results of the June 15th sale, and found that the item is marked “WAS NOT SOLD” (though there was a bid of $200 – the start price). I had characterized the sale as “a first in this art market – the open and notorious public sale offering of “authenticated” fake props, along with a COA certifying it… fake?” Well, the hobby has apparently spoken… I guess? [Read more…]
Premiere Props Now In Business Of Selling “Authenticated” Forgery, Along With Premiere Props COA? (Star Trek Mark English Communicator)
“Crew members and independent collectors have verified the authenticity of this item as a Mark English Forgery. Comes with a COA from Premiere Props”. Wow. I guess this is a new direction of this art market, filed under Sell At Any Cost: The Authenticated Fake Prop? As noted in my wordy titled preview of Premiere Props upcoming regularly scheduled auction (see “Premiere Props ‘Hollywood Auction Extravaganza X’ Catalog Online, Television & Movie Prop and Costume Sale Event June 15 (Plus An OPB Editorial Plea For Authentication)“, their authentication and lot descriptions, in my personal opinion, left a lot to be desired. I have no idea if anyone at Premiere Props reads the Original Prop Blog, but if “authenticating” a fake prop as fake and still offering it for sale is what they thought I had in mind with my public “plea for authentication”, they could not have been more wrong. There is zero benefit to selling forgeries back into the marketplace, in my opinion, and the idea of including a COA “authenticating” a fake as a fake makes my head spin. If the fake fooled Premiere Props, is it responsible for them to continue to facilitate the sale of a piece that is widely regarded as problematic for those of us who make efforts to keep such pieces out of the marketplace? How about someone takes a hammer to it instead? [Read more…]
Premiere Props ‘Hollywood Auction Extravaganza X’ Catalog Online, Television & Movie Prop and Costume Sale Event June 15 (Plus An OPB Editorial Plea For Authentication)
Lots for Premiere Props’ sale in mid-June have been listed online with online bidding partner iCollector, as part of their “Hollywood Extravaganza X”. The one-day auction is scheduled for June 15th. As with past auctions, the sale includes general memorabilia, though, as with their last sale, there is more interesting material with this event than they’ve had in some time, although much of it does not include any substantive information (or even vague information) about history and provenance in the lot descriptions (though to their credit, some do). Premiere Props is such a frustrating company, on so many levels, but some of their auction descriptions (if you can even call them that) are beyond unacceptable. I can’t imagine someone wanting a piece so badly as to take such a massive leap of faith in bidding on something in which no information whatsoever is provided about *why* it is authentic. [Read more…]
Premiere Props ‘Hollywood Auction Extravaganza IX’ Catalog Online, Television & Movie Prop and Costume Sale Event March 2-3
About 350 lots of the promised “over 1,000 movie props and costumes” that will comprise the online catalog for the Premiere Props “Hollywood Auction Extravaganza IX” is now listed with online bidding partners iCollector and LiveAuctioneers. The two-day auction is scheduled for March 2nd and 3rd. As with past auctions, the sale includes general memorabilia, though there is more interesting material with this event than they’ve had in some time, although much of it does not include any substantive information about history and provenance in the lot descriptions (though to their credit, some do). [Read more…]
Opportunity to Acquire One of the Great Motion Picture Artifacts of Our Time & Help Archive Television History (Wizard of Oz’s Cowardly Lion & The TV History Museum)
The Hollywood Reporter is breaking news this week (currently the print edition only), about the prospects of an individual or other entity acquiring one of the two surviving Cowardly Lion costumes from The Wizard of Oz, proceeds of which would go toward the funding of James Comisar’s “Museum of Television” project in Phoenix, Arizona. [Read more…]