The most expensive Star Wars prop and the most iconic single Star Trek costume sold at auction this past week. A new record was set for the highest sale price for a television costume, the market proved yet again that even the slightest Star Wars item takes top dollar, and sci-fi again rules the private collectors’ market for screen-used costumes, props and other entertainment memorabilia. It all happened at auction house Profiles in History’s latest Hollywood memorabilia auction, held in Calabasas, California over three days September 30 through October 2, 2015.
Profiles in History reported that it tolled $7.3 million in sales in the auction. The biggest news came from a production model of the Rebel Blockade Runner, the first ship seen at the beginning of the original Star Wars, which set the record for the sale of any Star Wars production piece. It sold for double the catalog estimate at $450,000. The prior record for a Star Wars item was $402,500, for a TIE Fighter filming miniature from Star Wars that sold at Profiles in 2008.
George Reeves’ The Adventures of Superman television series earned its rightful place in the history of television, with his supersuit selling for $216,000, the most for any known sale of a television costume.
Star Trek fans saw the most iconic Star Trek costume with the best provenance recorded sell for $84,000. That was one of Leonard Nimoy’s blue tunics from the original series, accompanied by the documentation whereby a fan won the costume from a studio promotion back in the 1960s. No other original series piece has sold with better provenance back to the studio. Other Star Trek items sold included an original series third season McCoy standard blue uniform for $57,000, and an incomplete Class A Spock uniform for $14,000.
Everyone wants to get their hands on original Star Wars items–the most difficult of the major franchises to collect since most items remain with Lucas or Lucasfilm. A small section of the Death Star barely seen in Return of the Jedi sold for a whopping $39,000. And even though it wasn’t screen-used, a lot consisting of prototype pieces of the most cosplayed sci-fi outfit ever, Carrie Fisher’s “Slave Leia” outfit from Return of the Jedi, sold for $96,000. Finally, in the top echelon of sales at the auction, a special effects camera used to film Star Wars sold for $72,000.
Then there’s Indiana Jones. One of Harrison Ford’s screen-used bullwhips sold for $204,000, a fedora went for $90,000, and one of his shirts and leather jackets each sold for $72,000.
Other notable, classic, genre pieces sold, including:
From Forbidden Planet, a light-up laser rifle ($66,000), a light-up laser pistol ($27,500), and a Walter Pidgeon Dr. Morbius costume ($24,000).
From Jaws, a Robert Shaw Quint harpoon rifle ($84,000) and machete ($27,000).
