I was recently contacted by Brandon Alinger of Propstore regarding yet another Star Trek original series piece from the 1960's. I say "yet another" because over the years I've been contacted by Propstore and various other auction houses about literally dozens of so-called "authentic original series pieces" including numerous Communicators, Uniforms, Tricorders and too many Phasers to tally. The problem is that I can count on one hand the number of times it has turned out to be a true, original piece made for the original Star Trek. That's not a great batting average so I tend to not get too excited.
That said, every once in a while something real comes across my desk. And sometimes it's not just real but also amazing. For example, a couple of years ago I was contacted by someone who claimed to have an original Phaser and Communicator. I yawned as I started looking at photos. But I quickly changed my demeanor as those two pieces turned out to be shockingly real and extraordinarily valuable to the tune of 1.7 million dollars.
Every once in a while a miracle happens.
LET THE EXAMINATION BEGIN
And so it happened again with Propstore. Brandon told me they had an original phaser and asked if I could check it out as I have done in the past. Without enthusiasm, I agreed. But, like with that other Phaser I mentioned, my boredom quickly evaporated. Rather than showing yet another well-known copy/replica/forgery of a Phaser, this one displayed all the hallmarks of the real deal with none of the red flags. I was shocked, to say the least, but I tried to reserve judgement.
At this point I'd like to make a very important point: NO ONE can authenticate such a piece from photos alone. Photos can obviously tell a lot but a flat image cannot, by definition, tell the whole story. It can't tell you the specific dimensions, the true color and sheen of the paint, the weight of the thing, or the myriad other subtle details that can only be evaluated by holding the piece in your hand. Because – and this is critical - there are TONS of copies out in the wild and there are definitely unscrupulous con artists who are willing to try to pass off those copies as the real deal. So getting all available data BEYOND PHOTOS is crucial to authentication. When evaluating such a piece, it is imperative to be brutally honest and analytically meticulous. You cannot cherry pick what works while ignoring anything that doesn't – you MUST take everything into account and let the chips fall where they may.
To that end, I flew out to LA to meet this piece face-to-face to see if it would hold up to up-close and hands-on scrutiny. I sat down with the piece, brought out my reference, put on my latex gloves and got to work. Within 60 seconds I knew that this piece was on track. Everything looked and felt correct. But looks can be deceiving so I proceeded to spend the next hour or so getting to know it intimately.
At every turn it did not disappoint. In dimensions, materials, paints, finishes, patinas, and detail placements – as well as those incredibly subtle details I mentioned earlier – the piece spoke for itself. There was not a single inconsistency to be found. I concluded this was indeed an actual original Star Trek piece last used in 1969. I was holding a piece that was almost surely used by Captain Kirk or Mr. Spock themselves. It was an incredibly heady moment. I literally sat there with it in my hand smiling like an idiot. You would have, too!
PHASER TYPES EXPLAINED
So it's a real Phaser prop, but what, exactly does that mean? Here's a primer on All Things Phaser.
When the show began, the Desilu Prop Department created two kinds of Phaser props: Heroes and Backgrounds.
The appropriately named Heroes were created for use by our heroes and for close-ups (called a "hero prop" in the business). Four Heroes were made and each was highly detailed with light-up tips and various moving parts (most of which were unfortuantely never shown in-use on the show). They were also very expensive to make (all that detail!) and very fragile as they were made from cast plastic resin. One drop could permanently ruin one.
The second type was created for use by background characters and stuntmen and not intended to be seen clearly or in close-up. These Background pieces were cheaply made using a vacuum-formed process. They were crude but worked well as long as they stayed in the background. They were also rather fragile.
Once Season 1 production was under way, it became apparent that another type of Phaser prop was needed due to the heavy action that was a key element to most episodes. They no doubt discovered that during a given action sequence, the expensive Hero props had to be pampered and handled with extreme care to avoid getting damaged, while the Background pieces didn't have enough detail to be used even in medium shots let alone close-up.
So this defines the Propstore offering as a Midgrade Phaser, one of only five known survivors. But this is not just any Midgrade. This piece is in amazing, original condition with all of its production-made parts, features and paint still intact after all these years! This piece was basically put into a box and perfectly preserved. You could use it in a production today and no one would bat an eye.
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