Missing 32" Enterprise finally found...

They will lose in court most likely. If it was a stolen object Roddenberry should not have to pay full value if he can prove it belonged to his dad. They should get a finders fee and that's it.

 

Remember at the start of this when it showed up, then disappeared again and we were all worried that it would never be seen again?

This is how you guarantee that this happens the next time.

"Hmmmm. I can make millions of dollars selling to a collector who will make this the crown jewel of his backroom Star Trek collection. (Does someone have Lord Bezos' phone number?) Or I can go public and get a polite little finder's fee and a pat on the head."

Especially if you're dealing with a non-Star Trek fan whose heart does not go pitter pat when they see this Enterprise.

 

So we should reward greedy people and thus encourage other greedy people to hold the process hostage in the future? Isn't that why they discourage paying kidnappers ransom, because it encourages future kidnappings?

They got half a million dollars out of this. I'd call that a more than satisfying payoff for a lucky accident. And it's probably more than they should've gotten if it is stolen property.

 

You know what too bad for them. They were offered 500k for an item that was stolen. They are suing now and probably won't even get that now.

 

Yeah I don't know. I would guess a million and a half. But the thing is, it was Rods dads to begin with. So im not even sure Rod had to give them anything. He may have been able to go a different route and get it back without a money agreement. So I don't know. We shall see what happens. I just hope it eventually makes it's way to a museum..

 

I’d love to hear a lawyer explain this situation as I am not familiar enough with the legal ramifications surrounding the item.

If it was reported stolen and there was no insurance payout, then I would imagine it’s sort of like the art that the nazis stole from the Jewish population when they raged thru Europe. But I don’t know the relevant laws and I can only speculate.

I also wonder who was the person who had the storage facility. Did they once work for the studio?

not sure we’ll ever know the true details

 

I think that's already settled. The finders aren't suing for possession of it, just for more money from the auction house (or at least for the original half mil they say they haven't gotten yet). Their lawyer said in the article they have no dispute with Roddenberry.

 

There was no insurance payout most likely back than because the model was not as priceless as it is today. It was stolen before the motion picture came out. Star trek is now even more a cultural icon than it was in 77 so the model is worth much more as a cultural artifact.

 

Yeah Rod has the model. So it's safe. From the new pictures it looks like the nacelles have been straightened up a bit. I hope they don't do a full restoration. It actually looks to be in good shape yet. Maybe they can just do some detailing fill in's on the markings. As for the guys who found it it looks like they will go for 800k or more. I believe Rod is paying but it's hard to know. But they claim they haven't received nothing yet so not sure why they are suing now. 500k isn't bad and honesty if they decide to push it in court the judge might decide its stolen goods and Roddenberry should just get it back. I could he wrong but it's one way it could go. But yeah at least the model is safe. Quite a piece of star trek history.

 

I actually am a classic die hard Star Trek fan from childhood and my heart doesn't really go pitter pat about this model. It's...a model from the production of a TV show, not a rare Egyptian artifact.

Had I somehow wound up with it, and it was proven to belong to the Roddenberry family - especially if someone had stolen it - I would have been fine with giving it to Rod. If he didn't offer to reimburse me what I paid for it, I wouldn't make a court case out of it. I would be happy I was honest enough and ethical enough to return the property to its rightful owner. Doing the right thing doesn't require reimbursement.

 

I agree. Also yup it isn't a rare Egyptian artifact. It's better. It's a one of a kind model from the greatest show ever made. So much better.

 

We see it at the beginning of every TOS episode, so it has a special place.

If it were just Spock ears from make-up, it would not be as big a deal.

I’m just glad it has been scanned and will be restored.

I think Round2 should get a shot at it, now that there are dissolvable tools:

 

And you do not in fact know that it has been, at any point, stolen property.

Calling these people greedy is a wholly unjustified and unfair characterization.

 

It needs a restoration. There is cracking and to it.

 

To be fair Roddenberry was looking for it after he loaned it out. There is the memo he wrote. At best it just wasn't returned and it fell into someone else's hands and they just decided to keep it not thinking much of it. It will be interesting to see if they can piece together the journey the model had taken to get to this point.

 

Agree. For all we know, it was mistakenly tossed out by the studio and saved by someone doing a dumpster dive.

 

Now that we know the buyers, the next piece of missing information is who the unit belonged to. It had Burton Holmes' stuff in it but he's been dead for ages, so we don't know if there is any actual connection to the person who was supposed to pay the storage bill.

 

At least Rod has it. When my father passed away, his wife took it upon herself to either throw away or donate all of my father's belongings before his brothers and sister and my brother and I had a chance to get to the house to go through them. There were some family heirlooms that can never be recovered.

 

The cracks can be fixed with minimum resto.

 

Ouch! That was very mean spirited on her part.