The massive Profiles in History “Icons & Legends of Hollywood” four day auction concluded on Friday, and it certainly illustrates some different results when compared to past sales held by the entertainment memorabilia auction house. With over 2,000 lots, it was a tremendous amount of material for the market to absorb all at once, and I suspect that this was reflected in the results. Though the official results have not yet been published on the official Profiles website as of the time of this writing, in going through the results published by internet bidding partner iCollector (and under the assumption that these results also reflect floor and phone bids), it would appear that approximately 45% of the lots were passed over with no bids. I counted approximately 922 unsold lots, and adding up the total it appears that in the final sale that there were 2,050 lots (with 39 lots pulled prior to auction?)… But the other compounding factor is how many lots were sold for far less than one might expect based on past sales. Items that would ordinarily pull in $5,000+ were going for under $2,000 and sometimes even under $1,000. With so much to choose from, it may have become a buyer’s market and it seemed as though some collectors were looking for deals – and finding them. [Read more…]
Profiles in History “Icons & Legends of Hollywood” Auction Featuring Planet Hollywood Being Held June 5th – June 8th
Profiles in History have announced their latest “Icons & Legends of Hollywood” auction” event, with a 500 page auction catalog featuring 2,089 lots. Participants can bid online at iCollector. The massive five-day auction will be held June 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th. Though the words “Planet Hollywood” do not appear in the catalog, many of the pieces included in the sale have been identified as from Planet Hollywood. [Read more…]
Jackpot! Profiles in History Three Day Auction Pulls in Prices from a Galaxy Far, Far Away…
With Profiles in History doing fewer and fewer (and bigger and bigger) Hollywood auctions – relative to past years – it was a big question within the market as to how well this massive three-day sale would do. With nearly 2,000 lots, some with estimates exceeding $1M, it was a tremendous amount of high end material for this market to absorb over the course of a few days. While there were “hits” and “misses”, as there are with every big auction by the leading auction houses, there was a fair share of “home runs” that auctioneers dream of and that can leave some collectors with their jaws on the floor… [Read more…]
Profiles in History Hollywood Auction in Calabasas on June 26th, 27th, 28th
Profiles in History have announced their latest “Hollywood Auction” event, built upon a 672 page auction catalog featuring 1,981 lots. Participants can bid online at Invaluable.com. The three-day auction will be held June 26th, 27th, and 28th. [Read more…]
Profiles in History “Hollywood Auction 83” to be Held June 29, June 30, July 1st… Catalog Available Now
Profiles in History have assembled their latest massive sale, showcased in a 600 page auction catalog featuring over 1,700 lots. Participants can bid online at Invaluable.com. The three-day auction will be held June 29, June 30th, and July 1st. [Read more…]
Profiles in History “Hollywood Auction 74” to be Held September 29th – October 1st; Catalog Available Now
Profiles in History have published their new catalog for their “Hollywood Auction 74”. The three day auction features over 1,900 lots of mostly film and television related memorabilia, and a small mix of rock and roll lots. In the past, Profiles had as many of three such sales per year, but have evolved to having one massive annual sale. Participants can bid online at Invaluable.com. [Read more…]
Review of First Prop Store Live Auction and Profiles in History’s Hollywood Auction 65, 67, 68, The Expendables
The past week has been a significant one for the original television and movie prop, wardrobe, and asset art market, with two of the biggest dealers in the business having their own live auction events. This marked the first big live auction for Prop Store, which held it’s “Auction of Film & Television Artefacts” on the 16th, and Profiles in History had a multi-day event for their “Hollywood Auction 65” and their Expendables Auction (“Hollywood Auction 67 & 68” – yes, the naming/numbering is confusing… see prior article). With over 2,600 lots offered for sale collectively, it provides an opportunity for some analysis of each sale on its own merits as well as comparing and contrasting the different companies and their approach with the marketplace. [Read more…]
Profiles in History ‘Hollywood Auction 65′ TV & Movie Prop Catalog Available Online for Sale Event October 17-20
Profiles in History’s latest auction catalog, “Hollywood Auction 65”, is now available in print as well as online, via their official site. This sale is scheduled for October 17th-20th at their Calabasas Hills facility. While with their last big Hollywood Auction sale they seemed to change course on their reserves/estimates strategy on much of the catalog, and steered away from the hopeful jackpot estimates that have plagued their sales more and more in the past few years, that old philosophy is still somewhat present with this sale (see Gilligan’s Island costume with a $30,000-$50,000 estimate), though on balance, things seem to be more reasonable than not, relatively speaking. But they continue to lead the industry with phonebook-sized catalogs, this one weighing in at 630 pages, with a mix of new material and material that has been up for auction in past sales (some many times). [Read more…]