On Saturday, November 9th, the historic Julien's Star Trek Bid Long & Prosper Auction concluded in a live online bidding session at the Julien's ( https://bid.juliensauctions.com/ ) auction site; and, in doing so, spectacularly shattered the existing record book on the most expensive Star Trek memorabilia to ever sell at auction.
Prior to this date, the most expensive Star Trek artifact at auction was the William Shatner Original Series Phaser Rifle from the second pilot episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before", which sold for $615,000 on November 11, 2021 in Heritage Auctions The Azarian Collection Auction. And the second most expensive Trek item was the 78" long U.S.S. Enterprise D filming miniature built for Star Trek: The Next Generation that realized $576,000 in the historic Christie's 40 Years of Star Trek auction held at Rockefeller Center, New York on October 5-7, 2006.
In this weekend's Bid Long & Prosper auction, an Original Series William Shatner Hero Phaser prop sold as Lot #7 for an astronomical $910,000 (consisting of a hammer price of $700,000 and a 30% buyers premium); and an Original Series William Shatner Hero Communicator prop sold as Lot #8 for a similarly astounding $780,000 (with a high bid of $600,000 plus premium). The original pre-auction estimate for each hand prop was $100,000 - $200,000; which was consistent with earlier, recent Star Trek memorabilia sales history. In the Heritage Greg Jein Collection auction on October 14, 2023, Lot #89139, the Jein TOS Hero Phaser prop that is virtually identical to the hero phaser sold at Julien's, realized a final price of $187,500 including buyers premium - or approximately 1/5th of the price observed this weekend. Similarly, at the Jein Collection auction in October, a TOS Tricorder sold for $175,000 and a TOS Communicator witnessed $150,000. Thus, after this weekend, an Original Series Hero Phaser, Hero Communicator and Phaser Rifle stand as the top three most expensive pieces of franchise history at auction, with the top two places featuring newly auctioned memorabilia.
Another record setting result witnessed on Saturday was the sale of Lot #9, an Original Series William Shatner Captain Kirk tunic with trousers, which realized a tremendous final price of $455,000 (consisting of a $350,000 hammer price and a 30% buyers premium) - completely shattering previous franchise costume sales values. At the Christie's 40 Years of Star Trek auction in October, 2006, a TOS DeForest Kelley "Dr. McCoy" EVA space suit from the 3rd season episode "The Tholian Web" sold for $144,000; and on April 26, 2003, a TOS Leonard Nimoy "Mr. Spock" Starfleet Tunic sold for $132,250 at Profiles In History's Ultimate Sci-Fi Auction. These values were recently exceeded by two lots in the Heritage October, 2023 Greg Jein Collection sale - a TOS Nimoy 3rd Season Starfleet Tunic and a Shatner Starfleet Field Uniform from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (as Lots #89198 and #89269 respectively) that each witnessed a final price of $150,000. However, all of these past costume sales results, while quite impressive, fall well below the newly realized record performance.
Interestingly, the same Dr. McCoy EVA suit which sold in the Christie's auction in 2006 was also offered as Lot #30 in this weekend's Julien sale, with a bid estimate of $40,000 - $60,000, however it remained unsold. Other notable pieces of franchise memorabilia to change hands at Julien's on Saturday included Lot #18, the TOS U.S.S. Enterprise Helm and Navigation Console (formerly of the Paul Allen Collection) which realized a final price of $260,000; and Lot #153, the original 72" diameter Deep Space Nine Space Station filming miniature from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, which sold for $254,000.
Presented below is the complete set of final prices realized for all of the 239 lots of Star Trek memorabilia that were offered in the Julien's Bid Long & Prosper Auction. All prices include the standard 30% buyers premium amount added to the hammer price. Just click on any of the images below to view an enlarged version ...
