Is this an Ed Miarecki ?

[Daddyohdad]

I recently acquired this assault phaser from ST VI: The Undiscovered Country. Some have mentioned that it might be an Ed Miarecki replica prop. Looking for further guidance. Thanks in advance and great to be here !

 

[E Williams]

Yes, looks like one of his convention phasers. Your photos show what appears to be the edge of a butt plate detail that was added to the master at some point -- does the end of the magazine have a recess for an ID tag sticker, and no tag? He provided static phasers for the production of STVI (in a different all black paint scheme) -- I believe his earliest convention phasers did not have this recess, but ones he made for STVI and later conventions did. Only an educated guess as I have one of each and assembled the timeline based on when previous owners bought them at cons in the 90s. BTW none of his phasers should have ID tag stickers or engraved brass plates - if there is one present it was added by someone else.

 

[Daddyohdad]

Yes, looks like one of his convention phasers. Your photos show what appears to be the edge of a butt plate detail that was added to the master at some point -- does the end of the magazine have a recess for an ID tag sticker, and no tag? He provided static phasers for the production of STVI (in a different all black paint scheme) -- I believe his earliest convention phasers did not have this recess, but ones he made for STVI and later conventions did. Only an educated guess as I have one of each and assembled the timeline based on when previous owners bought them at cons in the 90s. BTW none of his phasers should have ID tag stickers or engraved brass plates - if there is one present it was added by someone else.

Thanks for your reply ! Part of your reply leads to (or answers) my next question. Does “static” mean no moving parts at all (like the one I have) ?
And yes, the end of the magazine has the recess (see pic) but no sticker.

 

[E Williams]

Yes, exactly - it implies no moving parts or lights etc that a close-up or hero prop might have. Sometimes this is a distinction without a difference, as in the case of the Voyager phasers, where all the close-up/hero phasers were just static resin pieces with no functionality. However, it's useful in this case, as ST VI had illuminating fiberglass and metal hero phasers (left over from ST V, not sure if more were made for VI), rubber stunt copies (also leftover?), and EM's newly made resin/metal phasers.

Some history on these:

Star Trek 5/6 Assault Phaser - Part 1

After receiving a Star Trek 5 Assault Phaser from a member of the Star Trek Prop Forum, I set out to authenticate the item. Now the proble...

startrekauction.blogspot.com

Star Trek 5/6 Assault Phaser - Part 2

After Star Trek V, the Assault Phaser played an even bigger role in Star Trek VI. For this production, Ed Miarecki was hired by Greg Jein t...

startrekauction.blogspot.com

Star Trek 5/6 Assault Phaser - Part 3 Ed Miarecki's Phasers

The Master inspects the Assault Phaser from the Doug Drexler collection, which he made. Ed Miarecki, the long time prop creator for Star...

startrekauction.blogspot.com

 

[Daddyohdad]

So then mine is an Ed Miarecki because it has that recess ?

 

[E Williams]

No, I'd say it's one of his based on the totality of it - the geometry of the casting, the paint color and finish, detailing, the metal parts and their appearance. I was just curious about that recess as that's another detail that goes towards it being his.

 

[Daddyohdad]

No, I'd say it's one of his based on the totality of it - the geometry of the casting, the paint color and finish, detailing, the metal parts and their appearance. I was just curious about that recess as that's another detail that goes towards it being his.

Thanks for all your input. It’s really appreciated. I actually stumbled into this when it came with a TOS Type 2 I was getting. I generally only collect TOS but we’ll see. Any idea what the value of the assault phaser might be ?