Propworx Star Trek Auction II

This weekend, Propworx held their second Star Trek auction.  This event was all Online and there was a little less fanfare than there was for the first one in Las Vegas.  Nevertheless, it can be said it was a huge success.  Most of the items sold for at least their estimated price and few were passed over.

There were a few items of interest to fellow Vulcanologists.  A resin life cast of Leonard Nimoy sold for $500.

 A large IDIC sign from Deep Space Nine sold for $550.

The item I was most excited about came from the collection of Michael and Denise Okuda.  It's a "doorbell" that was used in the set for the home of T'Pol's mother in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Home."  I love how the design reflects the shape of the Vulcan gong that was introduced in "Amok Time."  The whole piece is just really pleasing to look at.  It sold for $900!

Another unique item that sold for $100 was a foam core pre-production model of the Vulcan ships seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation "Unification."  I've previously written about Rick Sternbach's design and actual model of the ship here.

Profiles in History Hollywood Auction 44

Profiles in History is gearing up for their 44th Hollywood Auction.  It takes place May 14 and 15, 2011.  There are lots of great items with ridiculously high prices.  Two items in particular will be of interest to my fellow Vulcanologists.

First, lot 1545 is a piece of concept art by John Eaves featuring the Vulcan homeworld.  It was created for the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Home."  It has an estimated price of $400-$600 which is more or less in line with other Star Trek concept art.

Second, lot 1457 is the wonderful Robert Fletcher Spock Kolinahr costume from Star Trek: The Motion Picture.  Though this piece is iconic and rare I think it's hardly worth the estimated $30,000-$50,000.  Spock costumes are few and far between but the distressed nature of this one and the fact that it is seen on screen for less than 5 minutes reduce its value.  I'd say a more reasonable price for this might be $10,000-$15,000.  We'll see how it does at the auction!

UPDATE: Unsurprisingly, the Spock costume was passed over at auction this evening.  $30,000 is a ridiculous opening bid for this piece.  Though there was healthy bidding on some of the Star Trek items in this auction a great many were passed over.  The opening bid prices were simply too high.  The John Eaves concept art sold for a solid $700.

Stone of Gol

The Stone of Gol is one of very few Vulcan props created and seen in Star Trek history.  It is almost the only one from Star Trek: The Next Generation.  It appeared in the episode "Gambit, Part II."  Designed, as most hand props for the series were, by Rick Sternbach, the Stone of Gol was realized beautifully for the screen.

This image is of a Sternbach drawing from the book Star Trek: TNG The Continuing Mission

The prop is now owned by Forum member Anthony Sforza who graciously agreed to share some wonderful photos of it.  Anthony bought the Stone of Gol when it became available at Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas many years ago.

The prop is designed in three pieces: the main body, the horn-shaped emitter and a pyramid.  All three are molded heavy resin and they attach to each other by means of magnets.

As described in the episode, the Stone of Gol is decorated with various Vulcan glyphs and symbols.  On the reverse, are the symbols for the Vulcan gods of war and death.  Between them is the IDIC, the symbol for peace and Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations.

The Stone of Gol was an artifact left over from a tumultuous time on Vulcan before the Time of Awakening.  It was a psionic resonator which enabled its user to project the power of his mind as a weapon.  Following a Vulcan civil war, the resonator was disassembled and its pieces were strewn across the Alpha quadrant until members of a Vulcan isolationist movement hired a ship of mercenaries to locate the pieces.

The prop is named for the Plains of Gol where we saw Spock studying Kolinahr in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.  Another interesting connection in this episode is the return of Robin Curtis, who played Saavik in Star Trek III and IV, as the isolationist T'Paal.

"Gambit, Part II" also features an appearance of the Vulcan Minister of Security, Satok (Martin Goslins), who wears a costume adorned with the trinity of rata, tafar and tapan.  Finally, we also get a glimpse of some Vulcan script on a computer monitor.  All in all, the Stone of Gol is the star of an episode that gives us many tantalizing glimpses into Vulcan culture.

Thanks to Anthony for sharing this wonderful part of his collection!

Vulcan Ceremonial Spear

A friend from the Star Trek Prop, Costume & Auction Forum was kind enough to share some images of this fantastic and rare Vulcan prop from Star Trek III: The Search For Spock.

These fantastic spears were used by the honour guards at Spock's fal-tor-pan ceremony.  They were created by Maggie Schpak who also created the stunning jewelry and armour worn by Sarek and the guards.  I love the way that some of the design motifs from the armour make their way into the spears as well.

There are two of these spears.  They were sold at the 40 Years of Star Trek Christie's auction where they were purchased by Michael and Denise Okuda. The Okudas then sold them at the Propworx Star Trek auction last summer. The lot was split between two Forum members.

My friend has done an excellent job at screen-matching her prop to the one used to block Kirk from passing in the film.  Sometimes we have to thank blu-ray for revealing flaws!

This kind of attention to detail is essential in a hobby that is so beset by fraud. These pieces have rock-solid provenance and a really interesting history of owners.

Ex Astris Excellentia Award

I am honoured to announce that Bernd Schneider, of the fantastic Star Trek site Ex Astris Scientia, has awarded Vulcanology the Ex Astris Excellentia Award for January 2011!

Here are Bernd's comments about Vulcanology:

"Vulcanology doesn't look very spectacular at the first glance. But in merely a couple of months the blog by Scott Lukas Williams has become the prime online source about the Vulcans and their culture. The author looks back at the Vulcan costumes, props and sets of more than forty years, remembers the designers and writers who created the culture, reviews Vulcan-themed books, showcases merchandise (such as stuffed Vulcans!) and does not forget the humorous side of Vulcan culture in the form of parodies. And he does so in fully-fledged well-researched articles in contrast to the 'I wrote this up in two minutes' entries of many other blogs. Perhaps most importantly Vulcanology preserves the spirit of the fictional Vulcan culture just as well as of those who brought it to life."

Previous winners include the great blog My Star Trek Scrapbook, Drex Files and Alec Peters' Star Trek Prop & Costume Blog.  It feels great to be in such wonderful company.  Vulcanology is now listed in the Links at Ex Astris Scientia.

Thanks to all my readers.  It's very gratifying to know that people are enjoying the blog as much as I enjoy putting it together.  Thanks also to all those who have helped me to put together these articles especially my friends at the Trek Prop and Costume Forum, Doug Drexler, Bob Burns and Rick Sternbach.

LLAP

Happy Holidays!

May you live long and prosper.

Bob Justman "Amok Time" Memo

I purchased this from a private collector on eBay.  It was originally sold as part of Lot #721 in Profiles in History auction 32.  It details Bob Justman's thoughts on a first draft of the script for an episode of Star Trek called "Amok Time" which is probably the most important Vulcan-centric episode of the entire Star Trek franchise.