Welcome! As part of its ongoing mission to document the Art and Production History of Star Trek, this site will present technical articles on Star Trek prop and costume authentication - focusing on The Original Series - with detailed photos and episode screenshots to complement the information presented; as well as feature pictorials to showcase Star Trek memorabilia in private & public collections, present rare Behind The Scenes TOS imagery & discuss other topics.
Gerald Gurian is a 40+ year collector of screen used Star Trek memorabilia and a passionate fan of TOS
     
- Star Trek TOS At Auction Part I - Gurian Collection Highlights - Greg Jein TOS Hero Type II Phaser
-Authenticating a TOS Communicator -6 Myths About Star Trek Prop Design -Star Trek 3rd Season Command Tunic
- Design Features of TOS Tricorders -Star Trek Props At National Air & Space - TOS Leatherette Tricorder
- TOS Federation Sciences Dress -Desilu Studio TOS Prop Fabrication - Unreleased Allen/Gurian Prop Photos
- The Beautiful Women of TOS Part I -TOS U.S.S. Enterprise 11' Filming Model - Captain Kirk's Chair from TOS
- Spock Ears -TOS Control Panels & Displays - Mr. Spock's Science Station
- TOS Soundstage at Desilu -TOS Shatner Romulan Pants - The Beautiful Women of TOS Pt. II
- TOS Galileo Shuttlecraft -Greg Jein TOS Cage Laser Pistol - TOS 3rd Season Midgrade Type II Phaser
- Dr. McCoy's Sickbay on TOS -TOS Balok Puppet Head - Captain Kirk "Mirror, Mirror" Tunic
- Greg Jein TOS Hero Tricorder -1992 Smithsonian TOS Cast Video - TOS 1st Season Command Tunic
- TOS "Where No Man" Silver Contact Lenses -TOS Special Effects: The Transporter - The Art of Matt Jefferies
- TOS "Space Seed" Gold Mesh Jumpsuit -Gorn Costume from "Arena" - Rare TOS Behind-the-Scenes Videos
- TOS Stunt Type II Phaser -1993 Bill Theiss Estate Auction - TOS Shatner Command Dress Tunic
- TOS Elasian Royal Guard Tunic -TOS Finnegan Silver "Shore Leave" Tunic - TOS Science Officer Tunic "The Cage"
- TOS Shatner Early 1st Season Command Tunic -William Shatner TOS Tunics At Auction - TOS Shatner Late 1st Season Command Tunic

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Blacksparrow Auctions - April 12, 2014 - Hollywood's Leading Men & Women Auction - Star Trek Preview

Some noteworthy Star Trek items are to be offered as part of Blacksparrow Auctions upcoming "Hollywood's Leading Men & Women Auction" that will take place on Saturday, April 12th, 2014 at 11:00 am PDT as part of The Hollywood Show autograph convention in Los Angeles, CA.   Blacksparrow was founded in the summer of 2012 by long time entertainment memorabilia specialist Fong Sam, who was part of the Profiles In History team for many years; and in November 2013, Blacksparrow presented the successful "Hunger Games Costume Auction" which featured over 200 lots of screen used wardrobe from the film.

From Blacksparrow's news release on the April, 2014 event: "Highlights include Academy Award Winner Jennifer Lawrence’s dance contest costume from Silver Linings Playbook, Angeliona Jolie’s Christmas Party gown from The Good Shepherd, Natalie Portman’s robe from The Other Boleyn Girl, Academy Award Winner Sean Penn’s costume from Milk, Emily Blunt’s dress from The Young Victoria, Julia Roberts’s glass egg from Mirror Mirror, Rene Russo’s dinner dress from The Thomas Crown Affair, James Marsden’s hero Cyclops visor from X2, Hugh Jackman’s “Logan” shirt from X2, Tom Hanks’s eyeglasses from Captain Phillips, James Gandolfini’s shirts from The Sopranos, a complete cast signed clapperboard from Star Trek Into Darkness, and much more. There are autographs, scripts, posters, limited crew gifts, rare artwork, and many other memorabilia."

Certainly a highlight of the Star Trek offerings would be the Complete Cast Signed Clapper Board from "Star Trek Into Darkness" (Paramount, 2013).  I believe that this might be one of the very first - if not the first - item from the latest Star Trek feature film to hit the major auction circuit; and it is one of the rarest types of Star Trek production mementos - a clapper board.

Interested bidders may sign up to participate online at the following link on iCollector.com, which will be carrying a live stream of the event:  http://www.icollector.com/auction.aspx?as=31672

Presented below are the original auction house photos and descriptions for the Star Trek memorabilia to be offered ...













Thursday, March 20, 2014

Star Trek: The Experience TNG Ops Chair Measurement Study

Presented below are several photos providing approximate dimensional data on one of the Star Trek: The Next Generation Ops Chairs that was formerly on display in the full scale Enterprise D Bridge recreation at the Star Trek: The Experience attraction in Nevada; which completed an 11 year run at the Las Vegas Hilton in September, 2008.  While this chair was not screen used in the production of the television series; it was constructed by the Paramount studios prop department and likely is an accurate representation of the size of the screen used chairs.  This replica stands approximately 39.5" in height, is 21.5" wide (based on the measure of it's widest cushion section; ignoring the irregularly shaped wood base which protrudes several inches from one side beneath the upholstered sections), and is approx. 41.5" in length from the back of the headrest to the furthest leading edge of the frontmost pillow section.

Unlike the previous ST:TE furniture measurement studies presented on this website, which contained many images where a ruler is shown to verify the dimension each time, I thought it best to display multiple measurements taken on the Ops Chair simultaneously as annotations on a smaller set of selected photos in this presentation.   That is due to the fact that the Ops Chair is almost entirely designed as a collection of curved surfaces - all of its light beige pillows have rounded ends along all four sides and the top of each pillow is rounded, so it was necessary in many cases when measuring to extrapolate where an imaginary line extended from the center of the pillow (the highest point) would hit the tape measure positioned along the edge of the chair geometry.  And given that there is built in perspective from an imperfect camera angle - the measures one would conclude just by looking at a photo of the ruler against the chair in many cases for this study would be deceiving and incorrect - and read perhaps up to an inch or more off the true value achieved by looking straight on from close beside the correctly positioned tape measure.  I initially attempted to photograph every individual measurement, and some of the better (less affected by perspective) examples are presented after the annotated images for curiosity sake, but it is suggested that the reader just rely on the annotated dimensions presented in the initial photos.  

Below then are the detailed measurements for the Next Generation Ops Chair ...








Below are some of the individual measurement photography attempts.  The first four suffer worst from camera angle, while the remaining ones tend to confirm the earlier annotations.










Saturday, March 15, 2014

ScreenUsed March 2014 Prop and Wardrobe Auction - Star Trek Results

Presented below is the complete set of final prices realized for the 28 lots of Star Trek memorabilia that were offered in the ScreenUsed Spring 2014 Movie Prop and Wardrobe Auction; which concluded earlier this afternoon in a live online bidding session at iCollector.com.

The highest price witnessed for a Star Trek item in the sale was $6,490 for the Lt. Valeris maroon Starfleet Officer's uniform worn by Kim Cattrall in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (Paramount, 1991).

All of the final values that follow reflect the high bids witnessed on the items as well as an 18% buyers premium ...

















Tuesday, March 11, 2014

ScreenUsed - Mar. 15, 2014 - Movie Props and Wardrobe Auction - Star Trek Preview

The ScreenUsed Spring 2014 entertainment memorabilia auction is just several days away - scheduled to take place on Saturday, March 15th at 10:00 am PDT.  Amongst the items to be included in the event are a total of 28 Star Trek-related lots, which represent a noteworthy offering of screen used props and wardrobe items from the franchise.  Certainly the highlight of the Star Trek material is an exceptional William Shatner Admiral Kirk Class A Starfleet Uniform from Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) - with its original patch, braid and biomonitor attached - that is being offered with an opening bid of $25,000 and was the focus of the last post featured on this website prior to this article.  Other significant Trek items in the sale include a set of TOS Starfleet uniform pants; a TOS gold mesh jumpsuit from the highly memorable 1st season episode "Space Seed"; a beautiful maroon Starfleet Officer's uniform worn by Kim Cattrall as Lt. Valeris in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country; and an impressive Starfleet Medical Supplies Case from Star Trek: Enterprise that comes complete with an assortment of functional and static props such as defibrillators with strobing red lights, an illuminating medical scanner and various molded hyprosprays, scanners and multi-colored vials.   Additional examples of Starfleet uniforms - such as ones from TNG and Voyager - are also part of the auction; as well as a rare set of Star Trek: Voyager screen worn Tuvok Ears.  Interested bidders may sign up to participate live online at the following link:  http://www.icollector.com/ScreenUsed-Spring-2014-Auction_as29710

Presented below are the original auction catalog photos and descriptions for some of the highlights of the Star Trek memorabilia to be sold ...