Prop

There has to be a truly exceptional reason to get anyone, including anyone on the IndieWire staff, to walk into the Times Square Planet Hollywood at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday. In fairness, Planet Hollywoods do tend to have fun movie memorabilia or replica props as part of their decor; the restaurant’s themed focus on filmmaking from the ‘90s onwards has, in its own way, raised an awareness of production design and costumes as items of value and not just souvenirs for cast and crew. 

But on this particular Tuesday at 10 a.m., the third floor of New York’s Planet Hollywood had millions of dollars worth of film rarities displayed under museum-grade glass, with glossy catalogues authenticating the provenance of an original stormtrooper helmet, a belt and bullwhip used in “The Last Crusade,” Picard’s Ressikan Flute from “Star Trek: The Next Generation” episode “The Inner Light,” and the lightsaber used in Darth Vader’s dueling sequences (and therefore wielded by the late, legendary fight coordinator Bob Anderson) in “The Empire Strikes Back” and “The Return of the Jedi.” 

Darth Vader, Indiana Jones, and Captain Jean-Luc Picard certainly constitute a “return to office” exception. 

The Planet Hollywood display was presented by Prop Store which, since 1998, has been an auction house specifically for film and television memorabilia; the company runs live auctions of over 1,000 lots three times a year. They’re always trying to spread the word beyond their coterie of regular collectors, but it says something for them to be so hyped that they’re willing to hand-carry lightsabers and stick “Men in Black” neuralyzers in an overhead compartment on the flight from LA to New York to market their September 4-6 live auction. 

What’s striking about Prop Store’s work — at least to this civilian IndieWire staffer who has never won a live auction bid on eBay — is just how methodically each item is documented and vetted, even sometimes restored. Staff do what COO Brandon Alinger called “screen matches,” where they go through films frame-by-frame in 4K (or even higher resolutions) in order to spot individual scratches and characteristics of props, and separate the genuine articles from inauthentic replicas (and the odd Halloween mask). 

The Darth Vader combat lightsaber, for instance, was X-rayed in order to determine that the steel rod, which was used for fight sequences (the sinister red “light” and sound effects were added in after the fact, of course) was indeed assembled in the correct way. The catalogues detailing all of Prop Store’s work are full of pull quotes from the filmmakers, stills from the films, references to other props and inspirations, in addition to meticulous photos of each prop available to bid on. It all looks identical to the material one would find in a fine art auction. 

Just like the art world, Alinger told IndieWire that the company does have a lot of “regulars” who are consistently interested in film memorabilia as a whole, or in specific genres/franchises. Occasionally, museums will work with benefactors to put up bids for their collections. But they’re always trying to reach more fans. 

The allure of movies and the consolidation of Internet fandoms had deepened the value of the marquee franchise and blockbuster items Prop Store tends to auction. While Alinger would expect items from the original “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” films to be highly prized — they’ve had 40-50 years to appreciate — newer franchise items are just as sought-after, “especially Marvel,” Alinger said. 

No doubt there is a cinema and cultural studies thesis to be written about why that is; but it is sufficient for this article’s purposes to say that it’s a mindfuck to stare at a weathered, metal cylinder with a rod sticking out, its black paint slightly peeling, and know that you’re looking at something someone is about to spend possibly millions of dollars to own.

But one also thinks of Ralph McQuarrie, who did the original concept work on the lightsabers, or “Star Wars” set designer and prop maker Roger Christian, and how they must feel, knowing their work has gone on to become, as Alinger put it, “the Ruby Slippers” of their generation of cinema. 

George Lucas is probably fine. But Alinger has never seen fans so excited for something.   

“Out of anything we’ve handled here at Prop Store, I would say that lightsaber has the potential to reach the highest sale price. But it’s also generated the most response, the most interest from fans,” Alinger said. “We’ve had so many people reaching out to us and saying, ‘I can’t believe you have this,’ or people want to come and attend these in-person previews like the one we’re at now. It’s just something that people have gotten very excited about.” 

It will likely be later in the first day of the live auction, sometime on September 4, when Darth Vader’s dueling lightsaber will go up onto the virtual block. Anyone can sign up to bid or simply to watch Prop Store’s live auctions, which take place at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.