Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

The Prop Store’s latest Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction is running today and tomorrow. CEO Stephen Lane chatted with Paul Simpson about the auction and the exhibition running at the BFI…

How long have you been working on this particular exhibition?

Well, curating Prop Store’s Annual Memorabilia and Prop Auction takes me a year, if not more so I’m already been curating 2020’s right now. After that process, once we’ve got a handle on what’s coming to auction, we’re starting to consider what is going to go on display for collectors and fans to come and see. The exhibition I’ve been working on for at least six months but the project itself is ongoing.

How many items are there here roughly?

We’ve got 250 items on display and that’s 250 of 900 of the lots going under the hammer. It’s really tough to hone down what we’re going to bring and what we’re going to leave back at the warehouse.

Is some of that dictated by dimensions – there are two very big props here…

We’ve got the five-foot T Rex skull, and there’s a 35 foot dinosaur skeleton from Jurassic Park as well – that couldn’t make the exhibition, it’s too big.

Of the items that are in the auction, what was the first one you acquired?

That’s a really good question… I can’t remember, because I’m already mapping things for auctions for two or three years’ time, I work that far ahead. For this auction I might have had the ABC Warrior Robot from Judge Dredd for three or four years. That was pencilled for this auction back then.

Why hold it back? Just to have big items for each?

It’s about timing and about what other content we’ve got, about consignor’s requirements – a lot of this material we don’t own, it comes in from other collectors and fans and from film studios. It’s all about shuffling. And then if we have a theme – maybe we have a couple of the Lord of the Rings pieces, we’ll try and acquire some others to go with them.

There’s quite a bit of Star Trek material here.

There’s some great Trek stuff – whereas last year we had practically nothing.

Some of those props are like the ones I was allowed to handle on set back in the day – it’s quite weird seeing them being so revered now.

They are all sacred relics to us!

Are there particular things you’re always after?

I think there are degrees of focus for us. There are things we like to try and source. We’ve become renowned over the years for handling some of the best Star Wars content that’s come to market so I think some of the best Star Wars material does naturally gravitate towards us and we’re actively pursuing it. But I’ve been collecting for nearly 30 years and I’m interested in seeing any artefacts that come in and I get excited from whatever it might be, film or television.

So what’s your favourite item here?

I’ve got a few favourites – I love the ’89 Batman suit, Michael Keaton Batman suit, incredibly tough costume for them to build or construct for the film. It was the first item that we saw move away from the lycra, spandex bodysuit style of the Christopher Reeve Superman superhero to something that was more armoured. Someone spent a lot of time coming up with that concept for it. There were very few suits made because it was breaking new ground and very few have actually survived. That’s a standout.

I love the 5-foot Tyrannosaurus skull from one of the Jurassic Park films – who wouldn’t want that? But then because I’m a huge Star Wars fan, the stormtrooper helmet from A New Hope, Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber from A New Hope, it’s big deal stuff to me.

With something like The Mandalorian currently in production, are you after material from that?

Yes.

It doesn’t need a length of time connected to it?

If there’s an opportunity for something from a production, absolutely we would consider it. We’re not just looking for vintage material, we have content in the auction from Ex Machina – we have the suit and the robot components. It’s timeless.

I remember 90% of the stuff here; do your buyers buy for nostalgia?

I think a lot of people buy for nostalgia but because we all grow up at different times, the nostalgia period is different. We have people who grew up with Star Wars and saw it in the cinema, and they want to reconnect with that; but equally there are passionate fans of Ex Machina and so many of the TV shows – Doctor Who, Star Trek – and Hellboy, Lord of the Rings. We have Kroenen’s mask from Hellboy – one of the mechanical masks. A great piece of work done by a company called DVT who are phenomenally talented. If you’re a Hellboy fan, a del Toro fan it’s going to be right up your street.

And a lot of Bond

The Walther PPK from GoldenEye, the hero pistol that was used with the silencer and the holster. We have the P99 and Jinx’s weapon from Die Another Day, one of the casino chips from Casino Royale – we have some exceptional James Bond material as well.

Is there anything that you wanted to put into this one that didn’t work out, or had to hold back?

I don’t think so. I think we’ve got everything here that we hoped for.

The auction begins today at midday UK time at http://www.propstore.com/liveauction .