More than 850 masses of iconic videos and TELEVISION screens with an estimated total price of more than $6 million are about to pass under the hammer in Los Angeles, California. However, this sale has something very different.
Prop Store’s live entertainment memorabilia auction is the company’s first major sale since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Here’s what the first adjustments had to be made.
“The first live auction took place in London, England, in 2014, and this has happened year after year since. This auction in Los Angeles is something we’ve been talking about for a few years, and 2020 only the year we were given concern about the idea,” said Brandon Alinger, Chief Operating Officer of Prop Store. “We felt we had to bring him here because, honestly, there’s a lot of content here in the United States. It has launched a very wide network and covers many other titles.
“Now, of course, this commitment came before the virus, so our plans were interrupted several times. First, we imagined this auction as a live auction, which means that other people can attend and bid on the user in real time, but, like many other people, we had to move to an auction where participation is only virtual.”
The occasion will be held over two days, Wednesday, August 26, 2020, and Thursday, August 27, 2020, in Los Angeles, California, and will be broadcast online. Among the iconic pieces is an 11-foot miniature style of Alien’s iconic spaceship, which is expected to be sold for up to $500,000. The style, used in the main filming of the 1979 vintage sci-fi horror.
“What disappoints us is that the component of the live auction is to provide a content display and show things somewhere so that other people can come in, look at them and see them up close,” Alinger lamented. “That’s where you have to look at the details, and there’s a character that those items have charm to, there’s an age they breathe in some way. We like to do those exhibitions just before the auction so other people get interested. We haven’t been to do anything in user this year.”
“What we wanted to do is create virtual content and have more video previews and more live streams. We allow other people to book one-to-one zoom previews where, if you’re thinking of bidding on a lot or much, we may be asked to suspend it that expressly so they can see that express aspect or ask a question, that’s one of the biggest disorders we had to resolve.
However, the pandemic has only caused disorders and challenges, but it has also created unforeseen opportunities.
“We have noticed unprecedented interest. More people have signed up for this sale than we have,” Alinger said.
“You may wonder why, and I think it’s partly because, in this global where other people are very locked up, they don’t do things like take vacations, they don’t go to concerts, they don’t go to sporting events, so some of that money can be used for other things. Here’s something you can laugh at and buy something exciting to attach to a movie or TV screen that you love. We have also seen, in the past, when typical investment pathways and markets are a little difficult, other people must step in and invest their cash in sustainable assets.
He continued: “Cinematic assets are a smart choice because there have traditionally been big gains in this material. This is not the case, and it is not a statement that applies to all levels, however, the express elements have evolved very well in the last 15 or 20 years, especially high-end content. That’s why we see other people buying to invest as well.”
The auction includes old movies and franchise pieces including Star Wars, In Search of the Lost Ark, Top Gun, Rocky, Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, and The Godfather: Part II, as the most recent acclaimed films, adding Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. .
“I think that component of the explanation of why we were looking to bring this to America is that we knew we were going on to attract new bidders, just because we had it here and not in London,” Alinger said. “Some other people do not need to go through the foreign purchasing procedure, currency conversion, customs duties, etc. They prefer to buy in an older way and buy in the country. As a company, our auctions, our products, we are constantly locating a new audience, depending on what we sell. Many other people expect film and television studios to own these products, and they cannot be obtained privately.”
“We see it all the time when a soft bulb moment is triggered, and other people genuinely: ‘Oh, I can buy anything from this movie that I love. Maybe I’m myself. I don’t have to gather only posters and figurines; I can have something genuine. “It’s a component of our project as a company to spread that awareness and make other people perceive that they can own those definitive collection objects.”
While many pieces are tied to multimillion-dollar and multimillion-dollar franchises, many of the pieces come from less successful but still popular films such as Event Horizon, The Rocketeer and Batteries Not Included. They raised $26 million, $46.7 million and $65.1 million at the national box office, respectively. Does increased availability and revamped discovery of films like streaming assistance make masses more attractive?
“This is an attractive and attractive observation. I hadn’t thought about it before, but maybe it’s a very valid point,” says Alinger. “Media and content diversity are more available to us than ever before, libraries of things that other people have overlooked or haven’t been able to access. There is no doubt that other people pass and notice the old titles in a way that have not been.”
“We’ve focused on the 1960s for the day of supply, and genre films are in the middle of the focus. Batteries Not Included and The Rocketeer, even if those movies weren’t massive videos and are no longer trendy, don’t forget it fondly, they have the price of nostalgia, and other people notice them for the first time.”
One thing Alinger and the Prop Store team are committed to making is being available and to everyone, adding yours.
“We checked to get portions at all prices. Some of the cheapest in the auction will start with a few hundred dollars. Obviously, the most expensive things can go above the six-digit range, but we’re checking the output to get anything. for all, ” he confirmed. “We don’t need it to be just a very exclusive and high-level event. We recognize that there are creditors with other spending budgets and that we need to have anything everyone likes.
“I love Ghostbusters, so I think those Ghostbusters II promotional balloons are wonderful. There are also works of art by Ghostbusters, some of which charge only a few hundred dollars. There are also wonderful patches at auction, like patches” without ghosts “in a movie mix of the moment. There are also some character callout patches, such as the Egon Spengler patch, which starts at about $1500. This time we have some wonderful Ghostbusters.”
“I’m probably not the only one who thinks it’s pretty cool.”
The Prop Store Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction will run for two days, Wednesday, August 26, 2020, and Thursday, August 27, 2020, on the Prop Store website.
Simon Thompson is a freelance journalist and UK manufacturer who now lives and works in Los Angeles. He has worked for and with brands
Simon Thompson is a uk journalist and independent manufacturer who now lives and paints in Los Angeles. He has painted for and with the most important brands in the industry, adding Variety, Reuters, E! News, BBC, ITN, Sky News and more. Simon covered everything from red carpets to the Oscars, and created, wrote, produced and presented a prime-time entertainment show in primary network paintings. Simon has also recently published his first feature film documentary. You can discover it on Twitter @ShowbizSimon and you can see more of his paintings on their website. www.thisissimonthompson.com