This might be one of the worst publicized auctions in some time, since it has been going on since November and I didn’t hear of it until I came across an article on Collider tonight. Per a press release from a few months ago, they’ve been holding online auctions since that time. While it is heavy on set pieces and short on the wardrobe material (that VIP Fan Auctions has been selling off for many months now on eBay), there are some really nice pieces offered in the mix. [Read more…]
Daniel Grant, writing for Gallerist, published an interesting article a few days ago about auction houses, reserves, and transparency (see “How Low Can You Go?: Should Auction Reserve Prices Be More Transparent?”). In his feature, he talks about how in nearly all cases, auction houses do not openly disclose the reserve (the lowest amount for which an item will sell at auction), and provides a variety of differing perspectives on how this practice impacts their respective markets and its participants. Of the auction houses specifically discussed in the article, only one – Heritage Auction – makes it known to the public what the reserve price is for every item that they offer for sale. [Read more…]
Profiles in History’s Winter auction catalog, “Hollywood Auction 62”, is now available in print as well as online, via their official site. This sale is scheduled for December 21st at their Calabasas Hills facility.
Kudos to Profiles, as it seems that they generally have changed 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 year or two. It is another massive catalog, and though a good portion of it is familiar, there are some really interesting pieces in the Western Costume and Sound of Music sections in particular. [Read more…]
The Heritage Auction Galleries has published on their latest online catalog and listings for their upcoming event, “Entertainment & Music Memorabilia Signature Auction – Dallas #7082”, to be held on December 6th at their Dallas, Texas location. As per usual, the bulk of the 1,988 items skews toward vintage/classic Hollywood stars and a good deal of personally owned items/estate items, prominently featuring Farrah Fawcett, as well as iconic music rock and roll items. [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…]
An issue that seems to come up with every official studio auction of original props and costumes from popular television shows is that of buyers feeling mislead by descriptions of auction houses, particularly use. We saw this with Christie’s and their official “40 years of Star Trek” auction, with Profiles in History and their sale of material from ABC’s LOST, and based on a reader comment today on my article about newcomer ScreenBid and their Breaking Bad auction, it would seem that the same issue is in play with this latest sale as well. Since people likely don’t check my articles for comments after reading it, I thought it might be worthwhile and productive to highlight that comment and my response in a new article, as it is an issue that seems to occur with each of these official studio sales, particularly because it brings in participants who have not participated in such sales before, and perhaps have not purchased or collected original props, costumes, and other artifacts from film and television. [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…]
A few have written me questioning my article published this week on the second highest results reported on in my review of the most recent auction events by Profiles in History, namely one of the most promoted items in their Hollywood Auction 56 sale event: “Lot 563: Steve McQueen’s signature screen-used “Frank Bullitt” hero tweed sports jacket worn in Bullitt”. This lot is still today reported by their online bidding partner, ArtFact, as having sold for a hammer price of $600,000, which was the low estimate. However, on the official “Prices Realized Detail” published by Profiles in History on their website, Lot 563 is omitted (indicating a passed lot/no sale). Like myself, much of the mainstream media picked up on the result of sold at a hammer price of $600,000 – not passed/unsold – thus I felt a short, stand alone update was warranted, rather than just a correction within my original article (which was also made today), which would go unnoticed to those who read the feature believing that this lot was the second highest hammer result over the two-day “Hollywood Auction 56” auction event. [Read more…]