Alleged Screen Used Hero TOS Phaser up for auction (now the aftermath)

[genZOD]

Does "endorsed" mean "authenticated" - ? Don't understand the semantic jiu-jitsu.

No, and apparently Herocomm didn’t see the phaser but they trust the evaluation. The one constant in all of this is that the people who trust that the phaser is real, do so because they trust the experts who looked at it, 3/4 of which haven’t been named.

Anyway, I still say if it isn’t screen matched it wasn’t screen used. If there aren’t ANY pictures or documents (aside from the LOAs from the sellers) that predate the sale then it just doesn’t have a verifiable history.

 

[Axlotl]

Does "endorsed" mean "authenticated" - ? Don't understand the semantic jiu-jitsu.

 

[JESmith]

Two days to go in the auction, and the added bold text about the piece being endorsed by HeroComm.

Methinks people aren’t biting.

The way Heritage has their web pages set up is somewhat confusing -- the auction doesn't end in 2 days, that's just when internet-only bidding closes. Live bidding will be 16th through the 18th; going by how the auction is numbered, the Phaser will likely be on the block during one of the Friday sessions, though I'm not exactly sure how they're arranged.

That said, I agree it's very interesting that there's been NO pre-bidding. It could still go nuts on the floor, though, between in-person and phone bidders. But we'll see soon enough.

 

[CessnaDriver]

There really is something magical that happens during that first rush of creativity. TOS, the original Star Wars trilogy, the first two Aliens films, Blade runner… they just exploded with designs that became iconic. Later interpretations added their own now classic designs (refit Enterprise, Reliant, Darth Maul, BB-8…) but not at anything like the pace of the originals.

I’ll pray to gods, devil or sun for such explosive creativity to happen again. Maybe there was just more risk taking and tight budgets, limits on FX technology to force creativity to provide solutions. The wave of the CGI wand removes all that sweating and suffering.

 

[genZOD]

I’ll pray to gods, devil or sun for such explosive creativity to happen again. Maybe there was just more risk taking and tight budgets, limits on FX technology to force creativity to provide solutions. The wave of the CGI wand removes all that sweating and suffering.

Have you watched Dust on YouTube? It’s a mixed bag & CGI heavy, but many of the creators involved seem to actually be trying to tell interesting stories.

 

[CessnaDriver]

Have you watched Dust on YouTube? It’s a mixed bag & CGI heavy, but many of the creators involved seem to actually be trying to tell interesting stories.

I'll check it out. If some revolution does happen again, that's probably where they will start.

 

[USS Endeav]

The end is nigh.

 

[Stairstars]

The end is nigh.

Eventually, for all of us...

 

[feek61]

For those of us not following the auction, when does it end?

 

[JESmith]

For those of us not following the auction, when does it end?

Sometime tomorrow afternoon/early evening. It depends on how the live bidding is scheduled.

 

[Gregatron]

Let's hope no one overbids...by bidding at all, that is.

...and just because:

Imagine the music playing for the past month, and then yodeler going over the edge, tomorrow.

 

[Borg69]

Let's hope no one overbids...by bidding at all, that is.

Imagine the music playing for the past month, and then yodeler going over the edge, tomorrow.

 

[Gregatron]

Also an acceptable answer!


Someone skilled with media-editing needs to take footage of the PRICE IS RIGHT Cliffhanger game and composite in the phaser going up the mountain and over the edge.

 

[Captain Dunsel]

It appears live bidding starts in under 24 hours.

A $100k bid was officially made, earlier today.

 

[Gregatron]

It appears live bidding starts in under 24 hours.

A $100k bid was officially made, earlier today.

View attachment 1476467

A fool and his money are easily parted. And I say this while acknowledging the possibility that the auction piece IS genuine (...but I doubt it).

However, nothing close to the burden of proof has been met. There is still a laundry list of questions regarding the piece's provenance, and numerous physical inconsistencies in the piece itself.

Given the utter lack of transparency in the authentication process, and the continued appeals to authority in terms of "the experts" saying it's real (while providing absolutely no concrete facts or information to make it clear HOW they know it's real), I absolutely would not want to bid on this piece even if I personally believed it was real. Too many questions, not enough facts, too much precedent for forgeries selling at auction.


Not screen-matched, no concrete provenance, no paperwork proving that more than four heroes existed, multiple construction inconsistencies when compared to the known heroes, and shady authentication offered by (mostly) unnamed experts, with no evidence provided as to how and why they call it genuine.

 

[Apollo]

Some fool who has more money then sense will “Win” this

 

[Gregatron]

Some fool who has more money then sense will “Win” this

I mean, if it IS real, and sells at a low price, then great. If's it's fake, and the winning bidder has money to burn, then great.

This whole thing could have been handled much better. If it IS real, then there should be a lot more excitement over it, and the price should be much, much higher.


But, no. Instead, it's been a damp squib of confusion, secrecy, and "meh" reactions from even us hardcore prop fans.

 

[Gregatron]

Looking back on the process of the Alpha communicator's authentication, I'm struck by the contrast: Alpha was already held in a private collection, and so the stakes were much lower, with the discussion revolving purely around "Real or Fake?". HeroComm worked thoroughly to screen-match it, compared it to the dummy comms, etc. And there was a great deal of transparency, which allowed for the community to conduct its own studies with the information at hand.

In the case of the auction phaser, it popped up out of nowhere FOR the auction, and with almost nothing in the way of actual evidence to support it. Just the comparison with the Jein, and the experts' word.

Worrisome.

 

[USS Endeav]

I hope it is someone with an axe to grind and the $ to bid on it for that exclusive purpose. Such a person would undertake all the tests and look into it much deeper. That person would be able to throw so much shade on Heritage, HeroComm and, sadly, the GJ posse.

 

[Jintosh]

I wish I had the funds to do exactly that.