CNN recently paid a visit to their “corporate cousin” and the Warner Bros. Archives in the UK – reported as the first such visit by mainstream media that has featured authorized video of the facility within it’s “secret London location”. While this resulted in just 23 still photos and a short 3-minute video barely touches on the 10,000 props and 3,000 costumes within the “vault”, it is worth a look for sure. [Read more…]
Bonhams will be holding their next “Entertainment Memorabilia” (auction 21948) sale event in Knightsbridge on December 10th. This sale includes a mix of film/television as well as music related memorabilia, which has a stronger emphasis, with a total of 347 lots overall. [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…]
Four days ago, Original Prop Blog published an article (LINK) noting the Daily Mail wrote a piece promoting a Stormtrooper helmet auction in the Nate D. Sanders auction concluding this coming Thursday. The helmet had been described as a “prototype” from the original 1977 Star Wars film, with provenance from Andrew Ainsworth. Original Prop Blog has published a number of articles about these “prototype” helmets sold into the marketplace over the years, and reported in June that Christie’s withdrew one of these from their auctions at the time. Now, Nate D. Sanders has withdrawn this one from it’s own auction (though, as reported, it failed to sell in their March auction and in subsequent eBay auctions). [Read more…]
The Daily Mail must be an easy get for a puff piece on movie prop memorabilia, going by their latest article on the “prototype” stormtrooper helmet being put up for auction (again) by Nate D Sanders this month. It reads as though it was repurposed from the auction house material, without the benefit of any third party analysis or questions about the provenance of the item. A similar helmet was pulled from auction by Christie’s last month, and their have been questions raised about the background of these “prototype” stormtrooper helmets attributed to Andrew Ainsworth’s work on Star Wars: A New Hope going back for years now. [Read more…]
This is an update to the article published on Monday (see “Christie’s Withdraws “Prototype” Star Wars Stormtrooper Prop Helmet with Andrew Ainsworth Provenance from Upcoming Auction“). As mentioned in that prior article, unfortunately, no images were provided of the sides and back of the helmet. A friend in the UK previewed the upcoming Christie’s auction, and took photos of the “prototype” Storwtrooper prop helmet, which has since been withdrawn from their sale (#5446). These additional images are important, in that the single image provided in the online lot description/catalog only included one “straight on” style image which did not show whether the lower, back side of the helmet had the “ribbed” decoration (a detail that most other “prototypes” have shared). [Read more…]
Today Christie’s has withdrawn Lot 136 from their upcoming Sale #5446, a prop attributed to Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) and described as a “prototype Imperial Stormtrooper’s helmet“. There has been ongoing public debate and controversy over movie prop Stormtrooper helmets trading for sale in the marketplace for years, and some of this debate and discussion intersected the legal battles between Lucasfilm and Andrew Ainsworth. In the auction description, Andrew Ainsworth was named as the source of provenance for the prop withdrawn from the current Christie’s sale. [Read more…]
Bonhams will be holding their next “Entertainment Memorabilia” (auction 21947) sale event in Knightsbridge on June 25th. This sale includes a mix of film/television as well as music related memorabilia, which has a stronger emphasis, with a total of 367 lots overall. [Read more…]