maxspr1
Well-Known Member
Tghis is NOT a for sale thread--I'm just asking for advice and ideas.
I'm seriously uncluttering my life, which includes letting go of some props I've had in my collection for years. One prop that I have absolutely no idea how to deal with is a Mark English Star Trek phaser 2 that I got in the '90s.
Backstory:
In the early to mid '90s, I met a couple of original prop collector guys at a convention. We started talking and I mentioned I had a fledgling collection going (some screen-used Buck Rogers, BSG and Seaquest items). We started talking holy grails, and I told them that my favorite prop of all time was the Star Trek phaser 2 (specifically the midgrade version, but no one really called it that back then that I can recall). One of the guys (Bob) told me that originals turned up once in a while in the Profiles in History auctions. I was such a noob that I hadn't really studied the Phaser 2 in detail enough to know what was real or fake and didn't know much about Hollywood auctions or the questionable nature of PIH items, especially vintage Star Trek items. I was also self-employed and often had some serious lean times where my collections went stagnant while I tried to pay bills. Anyway, during one of these lean times a Phaser 2 came up in a PIH auction (Collectors Ransom 5) along with a Phaser 1 and a communicator. Bob (who spent a lot on his prop collecting) won all three and offered to do a trade deal with me for some cash and some primo BSG props. I REALLY wanted to have a set-used/screen-used phaser prop, so I jumped on the deal. One note: back then original prop prices were SIGNIFICANTLY lower than they are now. I had a little cash, and Star Trek TOS meant more to me than Galactica. I was also able to compare my phaser to the black and white one in the temporary Smithsonian exhibit(which HAD to be legit, right?) and it matched in body shape, construction, materials, that awful yellowed epoxy. It really looked old and definitely had some details that seemed legit that other replica makers hadn't done, like the velcro and hand painted colors and tail fins that were molded in and didn't stick out...I felt good about my new acquisition!
Flash forward a few years...information about all the Mark English fake Star Trek props started coming out, along with a lot of actual info and photos of real legitimate props (like Greg Jein's hero). Doesn't take long for me to figure out that my phaser is one of the Mark English fakes and that PIH didn't do a very good job with the provenance (surprise, surprise). My phaser matches every known tell-tale of the Mark English "replicas" and pretty much none of the hallmarks of the real deals. Crap. Also, by the time I've figured all this out, sadly, Bob (the guy who won it originally and traded it to me) had died. He kept promising to get me the paperwork, but he never did. All I had was a fake phaser and a Profiles catalog with a matching picture of the darned thing. I was screwed.
So...now I've had this thing for almost twenty years, wondering what to do with it. I don't know how to sell it or how much it might actually be worth in the prop collecting market (nothing?). It's historically infamous in the prop world, but without any real provenance I'm now in the weird position of not being able to prove what kind of fake phaser I have! Ugh. All i know is that I feel like an idiot for getting it in the first place and I get bummed out every time I see it. I have too much stuff and not enough room for my legitimate screen/set-used prop collection, so it's time for me to get serious about getting rid of this thing.
Any ideas or advice? What I'd really like to know is does anyone think this thing has any actual collectible value and if so, what's the best avenue for selling it? Has anyone ever sold one of these before (knowingly that is...I think a lot of people have UNknowingly sold and bought ME fakes over the years)? I'd love to hear any tips anyone has or thoughts. I could do without comments like "you can just give it to me" or "just throw it in the trash..."
thanks!
I'm seriously uncluttering my life, which includes letting go of some props I've had in my collection for years. One prop that I have absolutely no idea how to deal with is a Mark English Star Trek phaser 2 that I got in the '90s.
Backstory:
In the early to mid '90s, I met a couple of original prop collector guys at a convention. We started talking and I mentioned I had a fledgling collection going (some screen-used Buck Rogers, BSG and Seaquest items). We started talking holy grails, and I told them that my favorite prop of all time was the Star Trek phaser 2 (specifically the midgrade version, but no one really called it that back then that I can recall). One of the guys (Bob) told me that originals turned up once in a while in the Profiles in History auctions. I was such a noob that I hadn't really studied the Phaser 2 in detail enough to know what was real or fake and didn't know much about Hollywood auctions or the questionable nature of PIH items, especially vintage Star Trek items. I was also self-employed and often had some serious lean times where my collections went stagnant while I tried to pay bills. Anyway, during one of these lean times a Phaser 2 came up in a PIH auction (Collectors Ransom 5) along with a Phaser 1 and a communicator. Bob (who spent a lot on his prop collecting) won all three and offered to do a trade deal with me for some cash and some primo BSG props. I REALLY wanted to have a set-used/screen-used phaser prop, so I jumped on the deal. One note: back then original prop prices were SIGNIFICANTLY lower than they are now. I had a little cash, and Star Trek TOS meant more to me than Galactica. I was also able to compare my phaser to the black and white one in the temporary Smithsonian exhibit(which HAD to be legit, right?) and it matched in body shape, construction, materials, that awful yellowed epoxy. It really looked old and definitely had some details that seemed legit that other replica makers hadn't done, like the velcro and hand painted colors and tail fins that were molded in and didn't stick out...I felt good about my new acquisition!
Flash forward a few years...information about all the Mark English fake Star Trek props started coming out, along with a lot of actual info and photos of real legitimate props (like Greg Jein's hero). Doesn't take long for me to figure out that my phaser is one of the Mark English fakes and that PIH didn't do a very good job with the provenance (surprise, surprise). My phaser matches every known tell-tale of the Mark English "replicas" and pretty much none of the hallmarks of the real deals. Crap. Also, by the time I've figured all this out, sadly, Bob (the guy who won it originally and traded it to me) had died. He kept promising to get me the paperwork, but he never did. All I had was a fake phaser and a Profiles catalog with a matching picture of the darned thing. I was screwed.
So...now I've had this thing for almost twenty years, wondering what to do with it. I don't know how to sell it or how much it might actually be worth in the prop collecting market (nothing?). It's historically infamous in the prop world, but without any real provenance I'm now in the weird position of not being able to prove what kind of fake phaser I have! Ugh. All i know is that I feel like an idiot for getting it in the first place and I get bummed out every time I see it. I have too much stuff and not enough room for my legitimate screen/set-used prop collection, so it's time for me to get serious about getting rid of this thing.
Any ideas or advice? What I'd really like to know is does anyone think this thing has any actual collectible value and if so, what's the best avenue for selling it? Has anyone ever sold one of these before (knowingly that is...I think a lot of people have UNknowingly sold and bought ME fakes over the years)? I'd love to hear any tips anyone has or thoughts. I could do without comments like "you can just give it to me" or "just throw it in the trash..."
thanks!
