PREMIERE PROPS KLINGON TRICORDER: UNFORTUNATELY JUST A REPLICA

Premiere's photo of their so-called prop

The saga of Premiere Props' seeming inability to get things right continues. They are offering a Star Trek Klingon Tricorder which they claim was "used in numerous episodes of TNG and DS9", according to its description. 

Except it wasn't. The piece is a replica created by Rich Coyle, a propmaker who worked on various productions, including Star Trek V and VI, during which he made tricorders like these for production. Those pieces were never used, but he used his experience with them to create a series of replica versions. He didn't sell them as fakes – they were acknowledged copies. 

But once replicas get out into the collector pool, they take on a life of their own. When going from owner to owner, sometimes a piece's origin gets exaggerated – or flat out lied about – and we get replicas being passed off as real, production-made pieces.

But Premiere Props has been touting its new authenticity initiative wherein (supposedly) each piece is subjected to the rigors of a review by what they call "A panel of industry experts not affiliated with Premiere Props in the movie & TV memorabilia business". This is the body that has "authenticated" this replica as the real deal. Which means that, as collectors, we should give no credence to any of Premiere's claims of doing true authentication. 

I've owned a Klingon Tricorder replica for many years, so I knew something was up as soon as I saw Premiere's offering. Since the two matched, it meant one of two things: either theirs was a replica, or mine was real! While it was an exciting prospect, I originally acquired my piece from Star Trek propmaker Ed Miarecki, a name well-known to Trek prop collectors. Though he didn't make the piece, Ed would have certainly known the difference between a production piece and a replica. When I recently contacted him about it, he told me that he was under the impression that it was originally made by Rich Coyle, but wasn't sure of that. So I did some additional digging and confirmed that was, indeed, the case. Here's what to look for:

Klingon Symbols on front, right panel. They aren't actual Klingon symbols, just approximations. Their design, size and placement are unique to Coyle pieces. It's one of the easy-to-see "tells".

Klingon Symbols on the back. Same as above.

Here's side-by-side shots of Premiere's with mine. Don't let the variations in paint fool you – that can change from piece to piece. It's the construction details that matter. Mine lights up so the screen is white. The Premiere version does not.

Note that the Premiere version seems to be different at the top on either side of the center piece. But in actuality, it's just missing the caps that go there. You can clearly see the holes where the screws are missing.

Tricorder from Profiles auction

 
Inside the piece, I would hazard a guess that it is etched with a numeral, which Coyle put in to the ones he painted (though I'm not sure he painted this one so it might not be present). 

I only know of one generally-accepted version of a screen-used Klingon Tricorder. It sold last year at Profiles for a tidy sum (right). As you can see by the photo, it has none of the Klingon inscriptions that appear on mine and the Premiere piece. The back is also void of those symbols. It's also heavily sprayed with brown paint, a style favored by the DS9 propmakers.

So here's the deal. If Premiere can offer some actual proof that their version was used in a production, I'm all for it. After all, that would mean that mine might be production-used as well. It would be incredibly self-serving for me to promote that idea (and I can think of a couple of collectors who would do just that!), but the facts simply don't support it. And by the way, by "proof", I mean showing this EXACT piece in an actor's hand, not some anonymous piece in a blurry screen shot.

Premiere offers this screen shot as proof of... something.

This is one of those pieces that's tough to authenticate because there's simply no good screen images available, nor are there any shots of these in PR shots or anything like that. So, to authenticate one of these, it's all about details (do they match the known screen-used versions) and provenance (how did it get from the studio to its present owner). Premiere offers NO specifics about either aspect. Instead they show a dark, low-resolution shot that shows one of these pieces in an actor's hand, as if that proves something. It doesn't.

Premiere's much vaunted panel of experts and MPDNA program have definitely let them – and us – down in this case. It makes you wonder just who is on that panel, or whether or not they even exist. The best that can be said about them if they DO exist is that they are apparently incompetent.

So far as I can tell, it's all about lip-service, not true, knowledgeable evaluation. 

LLAP

Don

MY KLINGON DISRUPTOR'S LONG-LOST BROTHER FOUND! (ONE OF THEM)

One of my very first Blog stories here on WOD was an article about a TOS Klingon Disruptor that I had bought a number of years ago. I told how I set out to figure out once and for all whether or not it was a real, production-made TOS prop or just a prop replica (that story is HERE).

Much to my delight, a few weeks after I posted that story, I was contacted by an Italian collector named Paolo who had some interesting news for me. He told me that while reading my article he recognized my prop due to a very basic reason – he had one just like it! And I don't mean "kind of" or "sort of" like it. After Paolo was kind enough to send me some pictures I came to realize exactly what he meant: our props were twins! Or more accurately, part of a set of triplets, since his and mine also matched the details of one of the other specimens I had used in my original analysis, the "Azarian" version. I had also unknowingly used Paolo's version in my comparison, as Paolo came to inform me that he believed his version was the one I showed as having been sold by Profiles in History in 1997 and which I had observed in my story as having similar details to mine and the Azarian piece.

Paolo recently shared some additional photos with me and gave me permission to use them here. I wanted to share my findings with other Star Trek TOS prop fanatics (I know you're out there), so here's some shots with my version and Paolo's in side-by-side comparison:

 

Since the two versions were shot at slightly different angles under different lighting, it's not possible to get perfect alignment or good coloring. But suffice to say that I'm able to identify exactly the same construction with similar mold flaws and consistent aluminum machining. The most significant "tell" (a detail in the machining) is present on both and has been removed from these photos by me so that forgers cannot copy it. It is my opinion that these two came from the same construction source (and the Azarian version as well, I believe, though I am unable to confirm that).

Paolo has been collecting Star Trek since the 90's and originally bought the Disruptor in 1997 from a place called "Movies Galore" in Scottsdale Arizona. Earlier that year, Profiles in History had auctioned off a Klingon Disruptor and Paolo believed that "Movies Galore" had acquired that piece and then resold it to him. I have a photo of that PIH auction piece in my original story and the styles definitely match.

So how does Paolo's Disruptor fit into the scheme of things? Quite well, actually. My supposition has always been that my version (and by default, others that resemble it) was created as a background piece as opposed to the higher-detailed "hero" pieces that were used by main characters in close-ups. Having at least three known "background" versions out there is consistent with this hypothesis since there's always multiple background versions made for a piece like the Disruptor (as my earlier story mentioned, eight Disruptors were seen in one scene alone).

I'm grateful to Paolo for his willingness to share his Disruptor with me (and all of you). It was enlightening to me to see another version of my piece in such specific detail. Many thanks, Paolo!

LLAP

Don

A TALE OF TWO TRANSLATORS – Screen-matching Props

Several years ago I was fortunate enough to acquire a screen-used Klingon Translator used in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. From the photos of the piece, I thought it might match one used by Captain Kirk/William Shatner in the pivotal courtroom scene. Once I got it in hand I was able to specifically confirm that connection – it was indeed Kirk's translator!  The more imperfections there are, the easier it is to match a piece. And Klingon props are purposely "weathered" to emulate great use. The rough, handmade quality of the prop acts as a fingerprint.

My version showing identical weathering
made with brushed-on silver paint

Fast forward to February 2013. I saw where Propstore was selling another Klingon Translator. I hoped that it might perhaps be the translator used by Dr. McCoy/DeForest Kelley in the same scenes with Shatner. If so, I'd have a complete, screen-matched set. I eagerly pored through my photo archive desperately trying to match the translator to McCoy, but no joy. I couldn't say that it was never used by either Shatner or McCoy, only that I couldn't prove it either way. And since it would make sense that they made more than two of the props in case something happened to one or both while in use, I figured the Propstore version was an "extra" – made but not necessarily used. With that, I decided to pass on buying it. 

As it turned out, a collector friend of mine named Doug was the winner (Doug is a member of the Star Trek Prop Room). Knowing of my Kirk version, he contacted me and asked me if I could lend any insight about his version. I shared my findings with him and told him that I was unable to prove specific use. And since I owned the Kirk, and his didn't match the McCoy, I couldn't give him any useful info as to whether or not it was actually screen-used. There was no doubt that it was a production made piece, but proving screen-use was another matter. I was bummed, but probably not as much as Doug.

But then something cool happened.

Like many collectors, I'm a voracious keeper of reference images. As such, I frequently check out Trekcore, an invaluable resource for Trek collectors. Among other things, Trekcore posts screen caps from every episode or film of Star Trek ever made. And they constantly update those images, so that when something is released on HD, for instance, new, BETTER images are posted. So back in April I decided to check their HD images of Star Trek VI to see if there was anything noticeably better that would act as better reference for screen-matching my translator. Sure enough, there was a great series of HD images of the courtroom scene and they were much clearer than older images. I downloaded everything that I thought would be useful and started sorting through them to see which showed the details I was looking for. And that's when I noticed something that I hadn't been able to see before. 

In some of the frames, Kirk is definitely holding a translator that WAS NOT MINE. There were several great shots that showed mine clearly, but a handful were definitely NOT a match to mine. Because of the lower image quality of earlier screen caps, it had not been possible to notice this fact. But now I had pics that were clear enough to show two different examples, both used by Shatner. I got a little excited and pulled out the reference shots I had kept of the Propstore version. Hey, I told you I was voracious.

Doug's version showing tons of organic
features that match perfectly

As I scanned the photos, I saw exactly what I hoped to see – details seemingly matching the new screen caps. I couldn't definitively say they were a perfect match – the Propstore shots didn't show the area I needed in great enough detail for that. But it definitely looked possible. I quickly shot off an e-mail to Doug and told him about what I had found. He didn't have his translator in hand yet, but told me he'd forward some shots to me as soon as he did. 

Last week, those shots showed up in my in-box. I was working at the time, but I was so anxious to see if there was a match that I quickly pulled up my reference shots and started comparing. It took me all of twenty seconds to confirm the match. Doug had a Kirk!  Later on I took my time with Doug's shots and created the comparison image below. I showed it to Doug as well as a few other collector friends to get their opinions. It was unanimous – the prop was a definitive match. I've since been told by Doug that he was able to open it up, put in a new battery and it lit up, just like we see on screen. Even better!

Along with defining the prop's use, the experience also taught me a bit about how props are used on set. Since all the translators looked alike on-camera,  the prop masters would not have needed to keep track of which was which. As props were put down for breaks between takes, there was no need to keep them sorted so that for any given take, the actors might be holding any given version. The courtroom scene undoubtedly took days to shoot, so the translator props could have easily exchanged hands any number of times. There's also the fact that my Translator was damaged, perhaps during shooting (it has since been repaired). If that was the case, my damaged one might have been replaced with Doug's intact version. There's a number of possible scenarios.

So that's the story. I'd be lying if I said that I didn't wish I'd bought the piece for myself. After all, you can never have too many hero props! But Doug is a really nice guy and loves the movie stuff like I do, and I'm always happy when a deserving collector ends up with something cool. Even if it isn't me! 

So congratulations, Doug, you've got a true rarity – a screen-matched hero prop used by Captain Kirk himself! VERY cool. Q'Pla!

LLAP,

Don

Klingons!! Part 2: Weapons Display

In an effort to get my stuff out of boxes and into the real world, I created this display for my screen-used Klingon weaponry. I made it from an old piece of slatboard which I then painted and weathered to get that "used Klingon" feel. It is directly lit from a ceiling mounted spotlight. I'm thinking about adding some title cards to each piece.