Greg Jein collection auction: 300+ TOS scripts
- Thread starter Maab
- Start date
Ah yes, the style does look more like his.
I had my hat in the ring for the collection of 6 banker's boxes of Star Trek feature film scripts & ephemera, but it ended up selling for nearly 3x what I was prepared to spend... and even that wasn't even a tenth of what the TOS scripts collection went for.
I've just seen it.
The TOS script collection went for 200,000 $!
200,000 $!!!!!!!
That's roughly 666 $ per script...
I can hardly believe this... it's the same amount the Botany Bay studio model went for...
I'd never expected so much interested just for a script collection (albeit a very complete one).
Well, I'd imagine that whoever bought this, won't be willing to share his/her treasure.
Too bad.
I actively bid on 4 lots, but I was unwilling to spend what each lot went for. Are these winners Star Trek fans, or "investers"?
My greatest fear is the winners breaking up these sets by selling them off in piecemeal eBay listings at outrageous prices.
I accumulated losing bids of $55,000! Lol. That's money that I've never even seen in my life - but just goes to show what a fight to the death this auction was. Lord have mercy! I tried and I tried, got close to winning on some items, but invariably, they would end up just above my absolute limit or else to an amount that I just didn't feel was appropriate for what it was.
As to your question, I've wondered about that too. My guess was this: I happen to know that many interested parties were friends with Greg Jein, had been to his house, seen his collection in the flesh. I can imagine that some of these guys bid liberally, maybe not even always to GET the item, but to drive prices up some for the benefit of Jein's family. I mean, if they weren't before, they are multimillionaires today. (But that whole thing may be a bit of a conspiracy theory, and I intend no disrepect by speculating here...)
Having said that, it is INSANE that e.g. an Ezri Dax costume would go for 30,000 dollars. THIRTY THOUSAND! Where, mind you, similar items (Starfleet uniform costume from a spin-off show, not TOS, character other than the captain or highly-popular secondary such as Seven of Nine) typically go for anywhere between 5,000 and 8,000 or so. In the recent Comisar collection on Heritage, costumes worn by Shatner, Nimoy, etc. went for less than that.
EDIT: Can I ask (since it's done anyway) what items you were interested in and what your preception was of the bidding process?
I guess we'll find out in the next few years. As far as I know the winners' identity is secret, isn't it? Unless someone comes out publicly we'll never know who those treasures went to.
However I seriously doubt that whoever spent 200,000 $ for the scripts collecton, if he/she is an investor, will ever recuop the costs, let alone earn something on it. As I said, it's roughly 666 $ per script and I don't think you can sell 300 scripts for that cost on ebay.
Well that isn't entirely true though. Sure, this collection had hundreds of items, but my experience is that there are auctions with signfiicant Star Trek sections several times a year, including some TOS stuff. It was noticeable though that the TOS stuff by and large got the most attention, as could be expected.
As for the 200,000$ scripts, I have to say, if spending that kind of money didn't matter to me, I would've taken that deal too (might've hoped perhaps for it to stop at say, 100,000, haha). This is essentially every draft of every script, and as I understood it, some unproduced scripts, perhaps even some Phase II material. A treasure trove, especially for TOS scripts. I own exactly two things of that nature: one final draft script and one story outline. Both cost me a good deal of money individually. The person who won this lot will NEVER have to look for another script ever again.
I'm thinking more of "attention grabbing" auctions, but your point still stands.
That's right of course. It may have been a factor in the INSANE results this here auction scored that it was highly publicized. Most others fly more under the radar - and thus offer better opportunities for small-time collectors such as me.
Fascinating. Ezri Dax was played by a replacement actor who was on DS9 for only one season. She didn't make any waves on DS9 that I can remember, and she's not a big star today. I wonder if some of these bids were from bums who won't pay up, OR if maybe this auction caught the attention of a Silicon Valley billionaire for whom $30,000 is like $3.00 to us. It's play money to him.
I watched this auction, know a couple of people who attended it, and know several people who won various items. Several winners had very deep pockets (e.g., the winner of the X-Wing fighter) and money was no object. The once-in-a-lifetime object was the object.
Some of the scripts were Lincoln reproductions and photocopies. I would estimate that around 3/4 of them were genuine. Many were also autographed, and there were a few "non script" items in the lot, so that drove the price higher. All this being said, I was still surprised at the hammer price.
I think some of the bidders were friends of Greg but they weren't there to drive up prices. Greg was truly loved by the community, and very well known, so some folks just wanted something of his. I had a couple of interactions with him over the years and he was truly a kind and generous individual.
Some of the scripts were Lincoln reproductions and photocopies. I would estimate that around 3/4 of them were genuine. Many were also autographed, and there were a few "non script" items in the lot, so that drove the price higher. All this being said, I was still surprised at the hammer price.
I think some of the bidders were friends of Greg but they weren't there to drive up prices. Greg was truly loved by the community, and very well known, so some folks just wanted something of his. I had a couple of interactions with him over the years and he was truly a kind and generous individual.
Agreed. See my comments above.
My impression was that they were idly Rich with deep pockets.
I actively bid on the Vulcan lyre, awn-woon, computers data discs and TMP wrist communicator.
There was one bidder (Bezos?) that bought a ton of high dollar items. I would not be surprised if he bought over 50% of the items in the auction. We probably will never know the identity of bidder 7101 but he sure did score some nice stuff! Anything he was interested in; he won.
Right. I didn't listen very closely to the bidder numbers that were called out. (Do remember "Mr. Blue", though, haha.) But I'm sure that some of those winning 'numbers' were indeed identical. And good for them. Look, if I had that kind of money, I'd get myself a whole museum's worth of this stuff too. It just would've been nice if they had left just a little something for peasants like us.
But even though you can certainly read my disappointment from what I've been saying, I don't feel that I've been done wrong or anything. I could've won a lot or two. One (the TFF Nimbus III security officer, mislabled in the auction as "Yosemite outfit" or so) was fifty dollars away from the winning bid. I actively chose to stop when I did because in the end I honestly felt it wasn't worth more. Auctions are all about choices. And as it always is in the world, those with more money have more choices. But everybody else gets to eat too
