iwantit
06-10-2008, 02:40 AM
I thought it might be helpful to post my exchange with Chris from a few days ago
Originally Posted by Speedygonzales
Hello Rick,
someone told me you were an old film noir fan.. Im new around here, and new to collecting alltogether. Ive become a huge Bogart fan over the past year or so..and recently purchased a couple foriginal film props from the movie Casablanca. I cannot afford the higher dollar items, mine cost me about $90-$100 per item.. They are a vase like liquor glass container with a metal lid, and a silver serving tray.. Both came with very nice COAs.. Im debating on keeping them or making a display case, similar to a shadow box wall mounted case, including the 2 items, the coas, and perhaps a couple 1952 movie collector cards, similar to baseball cards.. then selling the whole thing..However, I got a feeling that once I get this all displayed I wont be able to part with it..
Anyhow, I was wondering if you knew of anywhere to get Bogart memorabilia, at modest prices.. I have seen some autographs going for $500-$5000 , which I cannot afford, but I would be deeply interested in movie props from ANY of his films, even the lessor known ones.. I have searched online for weeks, and visited many of the more popular sites, some of which were mentioned here by other posters.. But no luck on movie props, except the 2 I bought last week.
Any advice for this, or advice in general for a new collector ?
Thanks and best wishes,
Chris
03-09-2008, 11:45 AM
Rick S.'s Avatar
Rick S. Rick S. is online now
Junior Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Howey, Florida
Posts: 13
Default Re: Hello..
Chris,
I, am afraid you and most new collectors are 20 years too late for Bogart on a budget.
I, sold one of the two surviving 'Casablanca' lamps for $14,000 16 years ago, shortly after the small piano sold for a record then of nearly $200,000, and was very disappointed with the result. The other did $14,900 a few years later, at Christie's. I think both are now owned by the same long time collector who has his Maltese Falcon on loan to the WB museum.
BTW, I would put no faith in any eBay purchases regardless of what COA is offered. There has never been an official WB auction, unlike so many of the other studios did when they changed hands in the 1970s. Always, be very careful with such claims, as WB has been active in keeping and claiming their historic pieces.
As, for other Bogart items, there is his uniform shirt from 'Battle Circus' that kicks around for $3,000 with a very faded MGM label. I, last saw it or another last year. I once owned it as well.
There, have been a precious few of his suits from THE BIG SLEEP, and other 1940s films, that sell in the $8,000-$10,000 range. They were sold last at the PLANET HOLLYWOOD sale at Sotheby's in Dec. of 2002.
There, are also more than a few fakes out there with altered WB labels. For, the most part, they do not know the proper production numbers WB used, nor even the correct label for the year the film was made, so for those that do their homework, disaster can be avoided.
Search eBay Live auctions for the Maltese Falcon now coming up for sale, and note the marking on the bottom. Classic studio bosses counted every asset and labeled each one. Don't spend any serious money on unmarked pieces until you know what it is supposed to say.
Everyone starts somewhere, whether it be a lobby card, still image or just the DVD. As, you progress and get older, if you find this is your heart's desire, you will buy and sell to get higher quality goods. What I pay now, for a so so piece, was my once a year or several years BIG purchase only ten years ago. We all travel that path.
Study and learn all you can about how the studios operated in the Golden Age;it was a factory system, as each studio churned out 52 pictures a year - that's one a week per studio. It's, not like how they do it now.
Sorry, I do not have expertise in autographs.
Good Luck.
rick
If, you do a search of completed sales by this seller, you will see that they are selling many hundreds of other fantasy pieces from "OZ", "GONE WITH THE WIND", "LORD OF THE RINGS" and "HARRY POTTER". These last two films, have never had any studio sales of items, except for a handful of pieces given to charity and contests, which are well documented. Those precious few pieces have traded in the tens of thousands of dollars - per piece. The survival rate of OZ, GWTW and CASABLANCA screen used pieces is tiny. Most collectors know the exact pieces, that are still around, and who owns them. A GOOGLE search often answers those questions as well as reading "THE STORY OF THE RUBY SLIPPERS" by Rhys Thomas or by subscribing to an online catalog archive to see what was sold and when. Of course, the members here are well versed in these areas as well. :D
03-12-2008, 05:45 PM
MoviePropCollector
Admin Join Date: Dec 1969
Location: United States
Posts: 89
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The seller of your items, Auction Depot LA, seems to have a never ending supply of what they describe as "original" props, set dressings, and personal items from many classic, well known films and celebrities. These items do not seem to include any written provenance from the original film makers or celebrities themselves in regards to the items authenticity. Many of these claimed original props and celebrity personal belongings, bare similar characteristics to everyday items one can purchase at thrift and discount stores.
If someone is either not happy or not sure, of the provenance of anything they purchase from anyone, my thoughts would be to send everything back registered mail, request a refund, and not deal with the merchant again.
If you believe any merchant is not representing their merchandise honestly, I would also suggest you take your concerns to the authorities.
As recently as a few weeks ago AuctionDepot or whatever name they were using was still selling this garbage. Then when I looked last night on Ebay for them, it looked like they stopped.
I hope Ebay is now wise to their ripping people off.
Thanks to Rick S, Movepropcollector, and everyone else here, that mentioned what was going on a long time ago. I am surpised that AuctionDepot got away with it so long.
Originally Posted by Speedygonzales
Hello Rick,
someone told me you were an old film noir fan.. Im new around here, and new to collecting alltogether. Ive become a huge Bogart fan over the past year or so..and recently purchased a couple foriginal film props from the movie Casablanca. I cannot afford the higher dollar items, mine cost me about $90-$100 per item.. They are a vase like liquor glass container with a metal lid, and a silver serving tray.. Both came with very nice COAs.. Im debating on keeping them or making a display case, similar to a shadow box wall mounted case, including the 2 items, the coas, and perhaps a couple 1952 movie collector cards, similar to baseball cards.. then selling the whole thing..However, I got a feeling that once I get this all displayed I wont be able to part with it..
Anyhow, I was wondering if you knew of anywhere to get Bogart memorabilia, at modest prices.. I have seen some autographs going for $500-$5000 , which I cannot afford, but I would be deeply interested in movie props from ANY of his films, even the lessor known ones.. I have searched online for weeks, and visited many of the more popular sites, some of which were mentioned here by other posters.. But no luck on movie props, except the 2 I bought last week.
Any advice for this, or advice in general for a new collector ?
Thanks and best wishes,
Chris
03-09-2008, 11:45 AM
Rick S.'s Avatar
Rick S. Rick S. is online now
Junior Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Howey, Florida
Posts: 13
Default Re: Hello..
Chris,
I, am afraid you and most new collectors are 20 years too late for Bogart on a budget.
I, sold one of the two surviving 'Casablanca' lamps for $14,000 16 years ago, shortly after the small piano sold for a record then of nearly $200,000, and was very disappointed with the result. The other did $14,900 a few years later, at Christie's. I think both are now owned by the same long time collector who has his Maltese Falcon on loan to the WB museum.
BTW, I would put no faith in any eBay purchases regardless of what COA is offered. There has never been an official WB auction, unlike so many of the other studios did when they changed hands in the 1970s. Always, be very careful with such claims, as WB has been active in keeping and claiming their historic pieces.
As, for other Bogart items, there is his uniform shirt from 'Battle Circus' that kicks around for $3,000 with a very faded MGM label. I, last saw it or another last year. I once owned it as well.
There, have been a precious few of his suits from THE BIG SLEEP, and other 1940s films, that sell in the $8,000-$10,000 range. They were sold last at the PLANET HOLLYWOOD sale at Sotheby's in Dec. of 2002.
There, are also more than a few fakes out there with altered WB labels. For, the most part, they do not know the proper production numbers WB used, nor even the correct label for the year the film was made, so for those that do their homework, disaster can be avoided.
Search eBay Live auctions for the Maltese Falcon now coming up for sale, and note the marking on the bottom. Classic studio bosses counted every asset and labeled each one. Don't spend any serious money on unmarked pieces until you know what it is supposed to say.
Everyone starts somewhere, whether it be a lobby card, still image or just the DVD. As, you progress and get older, if you find this is your heart's desire, you will buy and sell to get higher quality goods. What I pay now, for a so so piece, was my once a year or several years BIG purchase only ten years ago. We all travel that path.
Study and learn all you can about how the studios operated in the Golden Age;it was a factory system, as each studio churned out 52 pictures a year - that's one a week per studio. It's, not like how they do it now.
Sorry, I do not have expertise in autographs.
Good Luck.
rick
If, you do a search of completed sales by this seller, you will see that they are selling many hundreds of other fantasy pieces from "OZ", "GONE WITH THE WIND", "LORD OF THE RINGS" and "HARRY POTTER". These last two films, have never had any studio sales of items, except for a handful of pieces given to charity and contests, which are well documented. Those precious few pieces have traded in the tens of thousands of dollars - per piece. The survival rate of OZ, GWTW and CASABLANCA screen used pieces is tiny. Most collectors know the exact pieces, that are still around, and who owns them. A GOOGLE search often answers those questions as well as reading "THE STORY OF THE RUBY SLIPPERS" by Rhys Thomas or by subscribing to an online catalog archive to see what was sold and when. Of course, the members here are well versed in these areas as well. :D
03-12-2008, 05:45 PM
MoviePropCollector
Admin Join Date: Dec 1969
Location: United States
Posts: 89
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The seller of your items, Auction Depot LA, seems to have a never ending supply of what they describe as "original" props, set dressings, and personal items from many classic, well known films and celebrities. These items do not seem to include any written provenance from the original film makers or celebrities themselves in regards to the items authenticity. Many of these claimed original props and celebrity personal belongings, bare similar characteristics to everyday items one can purchase at thrift and discount stores.
If someone is either not happy or not sure, of the provenance of anything they purchase from anyone, my thoughts would be to send everything back registered mail, request a refund, and not deal with the merchant again.
If you believe any merchant is not representing their merchandise honestly, I would also suggest you take your concerns to the authorities.
As recently as a few weeks ago AuctionDepot or whatever name they were using was still selling this garbage. Then when I looked last night on Ebay for them, it looked like they stopped.
I hope Ebay is now wise to their ripping people off.
Thanks to Rick S, Movepropcollector, and everyone else here, that mentioned what was going on a long time ago. I am surpised that AuctionDepot got away with it so long.