Firsthand Account of the Christie's Star Trek Auction 151
DustCollector writes to mention a Scientific American blog post about the highly successful Star Trek auction at Christie's on Thursday. The props, from many different shows, went for far more than was estimated. From the article: "The auction board flickered in perpetual motion as dollars changed along with the equivalent in euros, British pounds, Hong Kong dollars and Japanese yen (what, no quatloos?). Picard's Enterprise-E captain's chair, estimated to sell for $7,000-$8,000, went for $52,000. Two prop wine bottles of 'Chateau Picard,' estimated to go for $500 to $700, sold for $5,500. 'That's probably a record for empty wine bottles,' the auctioneer quipped. The sale prices so exceeded the estimated price that absentee bidders--those who place a maximum and hope for the best--hardly stood a chance: I counted only two successful absentee bids in the first 124 lots."
Shocking (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, they ended up with all the money.
I'm being sarcastic of course, I lacked the bicepts to ever raise a fist in anger/frustration
Well, you didn't go to spelling class either. (Score:3, Funny)
Poking fun.
Re:Shocking (Score:5, Funny)
But now they only have empty wine bottles, and Christie's has all the money.
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It's probably safe to assume that the six figure items, however, went to people who had 7-8 figure incomes.
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I think you got it backward. Gum class is where you go AFTER you get your face smashed in.
obviously (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not just "cast resin and foam". It's "cast resin and foam" that was in Star Trek
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You're talking about completely different things here. One is that there's more value in an object than in its components. Nobody disputes that a statue is worth more than the bronze it's made of.
But what the grandparent is talking about is the added value of an object due to belonging to somebody or being the "original" used somewhere. For example, underwear has a worth on a market. The same underwear is for some reason worth a lot more if it belonged to Marylin Monroe, something that IMO is p
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One that it's an instance of one of the first books printed. These days books are made with different means, so if you wanted to study old books, how they hold up and decay then it's valuable.
If on the other hand, you're interested in the contents, a modern cheaply printed equivalent is just as good if not better.
Finally, it's an Original Gutenberg Bible (TM). This is the part I think is bullshit. For me the only two
Full scale models (Score:5, Funny)
Full-scale? That must have been a large room.
Beat me to it! (Score:2)
Oh well, Hitchhiker's doesn't have quite the stigma of Trekkie.
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Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Picard's Flute (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Picard's Flute (Score:5, Informative)
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KFG
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Re:Picard's Flute (Score:5, Informative)
It actually went for $48,000. And at least to me that 8k matters.
PICARD'S RESSIKAN FLUTE - Lot 537
http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/search/LOTDETA
Lot Results
http://www.christies.com/auction/results/results_
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this is important for people to know (Score:2)
Back when I bought several lots of (original series and a half) Battlestar Galactica memorabilia from Profiles In History a couple of years ago, the amount of the premium made an impact in my decision to forgo bidding on other items. While tax wasn't an issue for me, because I was out of state, they did also charge an extra percentage for having a credit card transa
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In my best Simpson's Comic Store owner voice
"Best episode ever!"
That was one item I considered bidding on when Christies first announced the auction
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Ditto.
Of course, I looked at the "estimated" price, thought about how many dot-com millionaires managed to actually cash out with millions, and how many of them must be fans, and realised I didn't have a chance.
/me whistles the tune from /The Inner Light/
-Ster
Authenticate it! (Score:3, Funny)
parents can sell it after you move out of the basement.
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Re:Authenticate it! (Score:4, Funny)
*ducks and hide*
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Boy meets girl.
Boy loses girl.
Boy builds girl.
Thanks to T.A. Waters (no relation) for the above.
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True. Makes me wonder how many of the buyers are going to either appreciate what they got or let others appreciate it, and not just use it as an investment or marketing gimmick.
IMHO, a few of these items truly belong at the Smithsonian.
Regards,
--
*Art
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It does not matter, we....I mean they *are* Trek Fans. Maybe they will snaz up the basement with the money.
FTA (Score:5, Informative)
-Borg alcove: $8,000 ($700)
-Borg mannequin: $9,000 ($800)
-Worf's Klingon baldric sash: $3,200 ($300)
-Six Romulan Senate chairs: $1,900 ($800)
-Type 2 phaser from Star Trek: Nemesis: $3,200 ($1,200)
-17-inch tall latex-foam statue of Zephraim Cochrane: $5,500 ($500)
-Captain Picard's black-and-grey uniform: $15,000 ($8,000)
-Borg cube model, 30 inches across (the small one): $80,000 ($1,500)
-Enterprise-E model: $110,000 ($12,000)
--
i got a picture i drew when i was a kid of the enterprise, i've priced it at $3 for cost of supplies, its coloured in pen to! taking bids
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That's odd. Maybe it's just me, but I thought the Enterprise-E was a 100% digital effects model? Why would they bother creating a physical model if they're only shooting the digital set? The only thing I can think of is a rough model to prototype the design before making a digital version.
Anyone have the deal on this, or do I need to run scandisk on my brain?
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<geek_mode>
From the Star Trek The Next Generation Companion, the First Contact movie used minatures for most of the space scenes, including a 10 foot model of the Enterprise-E. I'm assuming this was the one sold
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A *really* well-built and shot model can still look at least as convincing as a CG render, IMO. Look at the Discovery in 2001 (which was enormous), the ships in all the Alien films (even the awful Resurrection has two great-looking ships that were made to look even nicer by the lighting and film stock used), the Super Star Destroyer, etc.
CG has been used to make some neat space ships, but in my experience they don't usu
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Fuck I hope that was laundered before it was auctioned off. I imagine it was worn quite a bit and I know I wouldn't pay USD15k for a sweaty jogging suite worn by Patrick Stewart a few years ago.
Complete listing (Score:2)
Re:Complete listing (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/search/LotSumm
Final Prices
http://www.christies.com/auction/results/results_
Thousands of lots, have fun!
So... (Score:2)
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You get him, and the next thing you know, you're going to be hit by a crap-ton of paternity suits.
By women.
Alien women, at that.
Goodluck, buddy. Now, Tasha Yar on the other hand...
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He became spokesman for a one time payment of 125K shares in the company. He sold off 35K @ $90, or $3.15 million, and has 90K outstanding @ the potential price today of 38.50, or $3.47 million.
Must be nice to have such high standards.. (Score:5, Insightful)
'whore'? I think you need to hold either the higher moral or economic ground to make that kind of statement. I 'whored' myself out to former employers for considerably less. :-(
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Well, it would be nice to have either, or preferably both, but alas, I also sell my soul by the slice for far less money than he made out of that gig, and am gifted with not only a foul mouth but a certain ethical flexibility that would have one believing I had been elected to public office.
I have no defense for what I said about Mr.
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How much for William Shatner?
That prop hasn't aged so well in Paramount's storage. Now instead of saying things like "beam me up Scotty", it says nothing but "Denny Crane!" over and over.
Funding (Score:5, Insightful)
How much does it cost to make a season of Star Trek?
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http://tinyurl.com/p44l9 [tinyurl.com]
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:RtvA1N2r6sgJ: home.earthlink.net/~scific/nextgen.htm+star+trek+n ext+generations+budget&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=9 [64.233.161.104]
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Estimates are bogus. (Score:5, Insightful)
Appraisers working for auctions routinely set estimates lower than what they really expect the item will fetch at auction - both to encourage bidders to step up to the plate early on and so the auction can claim to get "much higher prices" than expected, thus enforcing the Christie's premium name to sellers/estates who are thinking of consigning items there. Afterall, they have to compete with Sothebys.
And if it turns out to be a very bad auction, at worst, they'll probably just hit estimates - and that doesn't sound as bad P/R wise than missing estimates entirely.
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This is ridiculous. Please try to use some common sense. Have you ever worked in an auction house? The Christie's premium name to sellers/estates has to do with 2 things: The amount of money (people) they can bring to bid to an auction and the ACCURACY
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Yes. Next please.
Bogus estimates CAN hurt business (Score:2)
That mentality can backfire, of course. Some people might look at the results and conclude that the ap
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But they were still competing with Sothebys for good consignments - large and expensive estates. It doesn't do them any good to have high commission rates on zero merchandise.
Interesting comment about currencies. (Score:3, Funny)
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This was essentially a memorabilia auction, and as such consisted mainly of props and not metals/currency. For the current prices of metals, you may want to look to the New York Mercantile Exchange, and google for precious metals retailers. I'd give you a direct link for gold-pressed latinum, but I think my computer is acting up, as I can't seem to find a good one just now.
"Computer, what are the nearest sources of gold-pressed lati
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"Computer, what are the nearest sources of gold-pressed latinum" yields no results, for me.
Well there's your problem. You asked it for sources of GPL, not where you could acquire it. Your computer doing a search of the entire Glactinet to check each and every planet for GPL ore deposits or mining, so that it could then sort by distance. Your petaQ Pentium would take approximately three months to finish that search, and that's only if you had a 100Mbit fiber connection.
Of course... (Score:2)
Well there's your problem. You asked it for sources of GPL, not where you could acquire it.''
Of course, with GPL, you do get the sources... (badda-bing).
-- Terry
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Forget all the props, I'd be happy with .. (Score:2)
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You want it. here it is.
Al2O3, also known as Transparent alumina.
You people should know full well most of Gene's ideas were BASED on real science. Transporters, Tractor Beam, Deuterium, Antimater are all real.
Re:Forget all the props, I'd be happy...darn geeks (Score:2)
Get out of the basement, man.
Sheesh.
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She was quite pretty, then.
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"This phone will self-destruct in 5 seconds."
You'd be the envy of Slashdot.
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I still love Scotty's line: "You're still working with polymers?!?"
What to do? (Score:2, Funny)
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Warp Speed IP (Score:1)
That's a lot of money.... (Score:1, Interesting)
Lot Title STARSHIP ENTERPRISE-D
Estimate 25,000 - 35,000 U.S. dollars
Lot Description STARSHIP ENTERPRISE-D
The hero visual effects miniature of the Starship Enterprise-D from Star Trek: The Next Generation, fiber-reinforced cast resin construction with internal neon lighting [untested] on an aluminum armature with motion control mounts, with motion-control mounting hardware, power supply box [untested] marked "obsolete" and box marked "neon lights" -- 78x59
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Lot Title STARSHIP ENTERPRISE-D
built by the Industrial Light and Magic Model Shop for "Encounter At Farpoint," the pilot movie for Star Trek: The Next Generation, featured in the show's main title sequence and in many subsequent episodes
That's rediculous for a prop that doesn't serve any functions.
It's... the... ENTERPRISE. The starship Enterprise. Galaxy-class, NCC-1701-D. The actual Enterprise, the one on the screen, this is it. It's not just some prop they used once
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceShipOne [wikipedia.org]
If I had that kinda money... (Score:2, Funny)
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I don't know dude. Based in his previous commericial recording experiments, I don't think I want to be there when he hits a note that no man has hit before.
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Would that be this note [wikipedia.org]?
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Bad memories are memories too, you know! They have rights!
Somewhere in the Universe (Score:5, Funny)
A three hour tour (Score:1)
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Maryann who? I don't remember her, was that from some boring episode of Enterprise that I didn't bother to watch? Scott Bakula never did much for me, after Quantum Leap, anyway.
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http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057751/ [imdb.com]
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0920171/ [imdb.com]
She was supposed to be the Midwestern "Girl Next Door". Nothing doing. She was hot.
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Kivas Fajo's Costume? (Score:2)
Wouldn't it be cheaper... (Score:2)
They could have doubled the take... (Score:1)
LK
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The ones with the tailored camel-toes?
Re:This auction shows... That people are idiots (Score:3, Insightful)
It's a feeding frenzy based on the idea that "rare" is the same as valuable. Same as what happened in St. Louis when they tore down old Busch Stadium. You could buy just about anything -- and people did. I don't know exactly *why* people were paying thousands of dollars for used urinals from ol