Due to technical difficulties with the site, we weren’t able to post the Week 3 results from the eBay It’s a Wrap Star Trek auctions, so this will cover the last two weeks
Week 3 of Star Trek auctions on eBay from It’s a Wrap Hollywood ended with 84 of the 99 lots selling for a total of $45,921. This included several items from the first week that did not sell because they did not hit reserve were re-listed without a reserve this time. Unfortunately Its A Wrap have not learned their lesson as the listing for week 4 listings came out with more reserves than ever. This issue of high reserve prices is a real source of discontent with the collector community. The fact that two Klingon masks, one of which was listed week one with a starting price of $2,000, sold for just under $600 each, shows that It’s a Wrap greatly over-estimate’s the value of some of the items it puts reserves and high starting bids on.
The top selling item of the week was a MACO Assault Kit for $2,425. Another kit went for $3,800 at the Christie’s auction showing how unrealistic for It’s a Wrap to expect to always get Christie’s prices for expensive items . Most items are selling at well below Christies auction levels, however some items, notably the background player costumes that are from TNG, are going at crazy prices. The disparity between Christies and Its A Wrap/Ebay auctions is probably due to how the Ebay auction is mostly attracting just the hardcore collectors, whereas the Christies event was much larger and included many fans who were more casual collectors. But there are exceptions at this new auction, such as someone who paid $2,031 for an Engineering PADD, which is twice what it should go for (twice what a seasoned collector would pay).
Uniforms continue to do well
The 4th highest priced item of the week was a TNG yellow command uniform, which went for $1,921.89 also shows that some people are willing to pay way too much for some items. The Dax DS9 black and grey costume was a steal at $2,030.25 . Some collectors have been paying high prices for the very desirable black and grey uniforms which have been selling at about $2,000 in the eBay auctions from It’s a Wrap, easily twice the price a background costume of this type should normally go for. Dana Hammontree, the winner of the Dax uniform said "That is a good price for that uniform. It is about what it should go for now that there are so many available." Hammontree, an experienced prop and costume collector feels that the prices have been too high for props, as in the Christie’s auction. "The costumes are pretty much going where they should, with the exception of the background player costumes, which are really insane".
Scotty shirt controversy
The highest priced item not to reach reserve was a Star Trek: The Motion Picture "Scotty" shirt that was the subject of much discussion. This shirt was never worn by James Doohan in TMP. And the fact that it has the wrong rank insignia is suspect. Yet it has Western Costume tags that have Doohan’s name. Speculation is that this might have been made for "Star Trek: Phase II", the aborted second TV show that became the Motion Picture. This seems to be the most reasonable explanation. Whatever the case, the reserve not being met at over $1600 is ridiculous. The item is simply not worth that price considering its dubious provenance.
Week 4…Almost all Enterprise and more reserve issues
The fourth week of the auction featured almost all items from Star Trek Enterprise and ended with 75 of the 100 lots selling and a total of $39,861. It also was a week when It’s a Wrap decided to put reserves on more auctions than ever, obviously not learning the lessons of the past weeks. No item better exemplified this than the "Phlox" space suit from "Enterprise", which failed to hit reserve and went unsold at $5,600 . Four of these sold in the Christie’s auction (Archer and T’Pol for $8,000 and Reed and trip for $8,500), and It’s a Wrap thought they would get the same for this one. However collectors don’t consider Phlox as important a character as any of the ones that sold at Christie’s, and there is simple not as big an audience now bidding on these items.
Prices dropping on some items
Now what was really interesting, is that a Terran Empire costume that went for $2,225 the second week, only fetched $1,000 two weeks later! And the Enterprise jumpsuits that were selling for $1,625 and $1,575 in Week 1, sold for $1,099, $910, $831 and $810. The trend is obvious and not good for It’s a Wrap, which surely has many more of these. A Hoshi Sato costume at $1,800 was reasonably priced as was the Enterprise Phase Pistol and holster at $1,526. At Christie’s these Phase Pistols went for $3,600 before the buyer’s premium. One of the highlights of this past week, which many collector’s missed, was the T’Pau costume from "Enterprise". T’ Pau was an important character from the Original Series episode "Amok Time". And her costume from that episode went for $45,000 at Christie’s. Here the one from Enterprise (granted about 40 years younger than its predecessor’s) sold for only $1,225. It is a significant costume from an important character in Star Trek lore.
Top sellers: week 3
| MACO Assault Kit | $2,425 |
| Insurrection Engineering PADD | $2,031 |
| DS9 Dax Black and Grey Uniform | $2,030 |
| TNG Yellow Operations Uniform | $1,922 |
| Klingon Warrior Costume | $1,827 |
Top sellers: week 4
| Captain Archer Jumpsuit (distressed) | $2,055 |
| Next Generation Red Command Uniform | $1,994 |
| Hoshi Sato Jumpsuit | $1,800 |
| Enterprise Phase Pistol and holster | $1,526 |
| Deep Space Nine Runabout Engine Pod | $1,353 |
Many rare costumes up this week
This week (week 5) may be the most interesting week yet. Already a Seven of Nine costume is up to $5000. And there are many costumes from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. A Guard costume from Star Trek III is a really nice and rare costume (only scene in that movie). It is missing the belt and has the wrong insignia, but none the less, very nice. There are many great costumes, but not a lot of great props this week. Probably the only one of note isWorf’s ‘Ninth Place’ trophy from "Parallels".
some of the more interesting items up this week
Click here to see the full list of week 5 items on Auction
Alec Peters has joined TrekMovie.com as our Auctions and Collectables Editor. Alec has been a Trek fan since the 60s and collector of memorabilia since the 70s (counting 3 Star Trek Captain’s costumes in his collection). As Founder and former CEO of f Auctionworks, he is also an expert in auctions and eBay. For more check out Alec’s Trek Auctions Blog
What? No used tribbles yet on the auction block ?
Its always been my understanding that the TMP style uniforms as they appeared in the film were designed at the behest of Bob Wise after he came on as the director (and after the project went from the “Phase II” tv series to the motion picture), and that “Phase II” was going to utilize uniforms that were very close in design to those used in the original series. If that’s the case, I doubt the “Scotty” uniform could have been a carryover from the “Phase II” period. A lot of costumes were made for the principal actors on TMP though, including some which the actors didn’t appear in on screen. Doohan in particular can be seen in publicity photos wearing a grey version of the “casual” style tan uniform that George Takei wears early in the film, but you never see Doohan in that costume in the actual movie. So I would surmise its possible that the “Scotty” shirt was made for Doohan and he simply never wore it on camera.
Agreed. I have a friend who has a Scotty TMP Dress uniform like the one Kirk wears in the beginning and it was never in the film. So your reasoning is sound.
Alec
BTW, Make sure you read my blog on Star Trek costumes and props at http://startrekauction.blogspot.com/
I post this article there, but have additional articles on the Christie’s auction, Star trek prop and costume collecting and such.
Alec
Thanks for the link, Alec. I checked out your excellent blog and really enjoyed it. Great photos of some wonderful stuff and genuine enthusiasm for the subject matter. Kudos to you, sir.
Thanks Scott! Much appreciated!
my aunt called me the other day and said she found a bunch of boxes in her attic that have unopend star trek action figures from about 15 years ago. including a photo album of colector cards, one signed by one of the actresses, she couldnt remember who, just that it was one of the blond gilrs, a star treck chess set made of puter, and a bunch of other star treck stuff, not opend. she wants me to try and sell them for her. what would be the best way to do that? at an e bay auction? im afraid that no one would find them and i would loose money.
How may I find out what the original 3-D chess set, that Kirk and Spock played w/, sold for at Christie’s?
I’ve googled and can’t seem to find it.
Those were really great memorabilias from the beautiful series of Star Trek. But unlike those memorabilias from the movies I know, these memorabilias are much lower in price than those of the movies I know which are very, very expensive.