Alleged Screen Used Hero TOS Phaser up for auction (now the aftermath)
- Thread starter Anakin Starkiller
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They HAVE to double down and affirm the 2021 auction. How would it look if they were definitively proven to have sold a high-profile forgery, to say nothing of the bribery and corruption which pushed it through?
Fortunately, in the past two years, no one really seems to have taken the “authenticity” of the phaser as fact. As far as the bulk of the fandom is concerned, the historical record is not tainted.
AdmiralBaxter
Sr Member
They were kind of forced into saying it was "one of two surviving heros" as they were basically caught red handed in 2021 for selling a forgery AND in 2021 they didn't give a **** of if it was real or not.
They only cared about the money.
They knew they would make even MORE money so they had to make sure they didn't **** up......
They now have the reputation of selling forgeries...... It's going to take them a long time to recover from
ID10T
Sr Member
I just saw a feed that the X-wing prop was found "in Greg Jein's garage in a box of packing peanuts"...
Makes me question that items authenticity as well.
Look at it this way: Greg passes on and now this auction house has carte blanche to sell "whatever" with this plausible provenance.
Then look at who "won" the item- the ham-fisted neanderthal who comes up with, what 3.1M? I'd wager he's part of the rouse as well and would have been the "high bidder" regardless of any other bidders in the auction.
I've no dog in the hunt, as I can't spend house-money on toys, but if I did, I wouldn't trust anything coming out of that auction house.
Makes me question that items authenticity as well.
Look at it this way: Greg passes on and now this auction house has carte blanche to sell "whatever" with this plausible provenance.
Then look at who "won" the item- the ham-fisted neanderthal who comes up with, what 3.1M? I'd wager he's part of the rouse as well and would have been the "high bidder" regardless of any other bidders in the auction.
I've no dog in the hunt, as I can't spend house-money on toys, but if I did, I wouldn't trust anything coming out of that auction house.
At best, the idle rich, who just want something from STAR TREK to display. At worst, the usual suspects, who will reverse-engineer them so as to build more fakes to sell at auction.
AdmiralBaxter
Sr Member
A bit of both. I'll know some time this week who bought the Jein hero phaser and what the plans for preserving/displaying it will be
Chrisisall
Master Member
Okay guys, I'll tell y'all right now, I was the one who won the bidding on the Jein phaser! I took out a mortgage on my home to do it! Here's a real picture of me holding it right now!
AdmiralBaxter
Sr Member
LMAO even I know your wife would have killed you if you did, would be nice though
There was a whole team of VFX people in Los Angeles cataloging Greg's stuff at his house before Heritage even saw it, The X-wing is too old and has too many tells to be anything other than authentic. Greg did a lot of trading, and wasn't as much of a Star Wars fan compared to Star Trek.
While it might be a financial stretch for him, David has a healthy enough career in Hollywood that I can believe it would be possible for him.
finalfrontier
Well-Known Member
Congratulations....LOL!
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AdmiralBaxter
Sr Member
I wonder how many of the replica Greg owned were auctioned off as screen used.
IF I remember correctly it was Heritage tried to sell of props used on the fan films STNV/P2 & Star Trek Continues as screen used TOS props. I only remember because one of the Tricorders was built by me back around 2007-08'. Needless to say one of my long time clients reported it and they revised their listings.
NEVER trust what these auction houses say unless it can be verified in person.
Lightning
Master Member
I was wondering that about the ST4 Chekov Starfleet ID.
Mike Paugh
New Member
Heritage can only go on what is told to them by the consignor. They can bring in people whose experience and knowledge they trust to verify an object but how do you prove provenance of an item?
None of these things have a chain of custody that can be proven without a doubt. All you can do is go and see them in person and use your own judgement.
At least they listened to your client and adjusted their listing.
The other firm that was handling a few of the Gein items, Studio Auctions, said they had a list of what was real and what was fake and that you could request the list from them. I don’t know if anyone that has requested or received the list.
And what if the list is fake?
Mike Paugh
New Member
Exactly. They say they got the list from Greg. But how do you know. I’d be interested to see the list but how do you know.
I bought a screen used ds9 phaser. Came with letter of authenticity. Paid $2500. Now I’m told that because there is no screw visible in the end of the firing nozzle it is fake. How does one prove that the letter, which may be real is accompanying the actual phaser.
In my opinion these items need a micro dot tracking system put in place to make the physical equivalent of a non fungible token to allow for tracking and a chain of custody.
AdmiralBaxter
Sr Member
Exactly, it's like even the documentation needs a COA......
This is the double-edge sword of our fannish obsession with detail and accuracy.
Back in the day, it was easy for scammers to sell off phasers and whatnot which seemed authentic enough, because so many details were unknown, due to scarce reference. Looking back at Mark English props (among others), many of them are laughably inaccurate, and obvious fakes.
As time as gone on, however, we’ve had HD releases of the show to study, as well as detailed examinations of surviving, authentic props. Several fan-made kits have been molded off of surviving communicators. The Jein tricorder was measured and replicated by both licensed vendors and fans.
The Jein hero is the Rosetta Stone of phasers, with the P1 replicated in kit form by John Long, and laser-scanned by The Wand Company.
Unfortunately, all of this detailed analysis has also made these props much, much easier to fake. And, as we’ve seen, all you need is a good forgery, a questionable backstory serving as “provenance” (which the normies don’t know enough to question), and enough cash to push through a fake that earned more at auction than the actual, original artifact it copied.
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