The Final Frontier 9

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TF01 3,Star Trek Collectibles 4,by Simon Plumbe Star Trek Collectibles - A Ferengi's Guide! --------------------------------------------- by Simon Plumbe ----------------- As a Trekker, you can't have failed to notice the ridiculously vast array of merchandise that is available for fans, ranging from inexpensive comics and novels right up to £1,000 chess sets. Most Trekkers tend to buy merchandise just because it's something that appeals to them, but there are an increasing number of opportunities available to Trekkers to make a large amount of money by making careful investments in Star Trek collectibles. Over the years, I have seen items command ludicrous prices for things that cost mere pence when they were first released, but how do you know what is going to be worth a fortune and what is worth nothing more than a handful of Tribbles? This feature won't tell you everything you need to know (I do have to keep a few secrets!) but it should point you in the right direction following trends set over the years. To kick off, let's take a look at a selection of merchandise types:- Autographed photos ------------------ Signed photos are becoming more and more sought after by fans, wanting to have something that little bit more special of their favourite character/actor on the show. Signed photos however, unlike many other collectibles, are unique in that the value of the photos fluctuate depending on the country in which you live, how you get hold of them and who your favourite actor is!! First, in the States, photos are not as expensive as they are in the UK. At most of the professional conventions run by Creation, photos of many of the cast can be purchased for around $15 each. Although the cast do attend American cons, there is usually no way you can get personally signed photos as autograph sessions rarely take place, and this is a cheap alternative. Because of the sheer number of Creation conventions held every year, it isn't too difficult for most American Trekkers to get the photos they are after, although one or two of the cast (including DeForest Kelly who sadly no longer signs anything) are known to be reluctant to sign autographs so these are harder to find. Second, again available in the states or through dealers that import merchandise are the range of signed plaques produced on behalf of Starlog Press. Each framed plaque has a full colour photo of one of the cast and is signed as part of a limited edition series. These are really for the true collector only as these are very expensive costing well in excess of $100 each. Still, that's not as bad as the FULL Classic Trek cast plaque that retails for around $500!! The last option is to try writing to the cast member in question. This is never a quick option (in some cases taking over a year before you can get a response) and even then you are not guaranteed to hear from the actor/actress in question. I wrote to Brent Spiner a few years ago and have still yet to hear anything and I have heard other people have had little or no response to letters addressed to Michael Dorn. With saying that, I also know people who have had quick responses from both actors so you must bear in mind that there is a chance that you won't get a reply. In the UK (and throughout Europe and the rest of the world for that matter), things are very different. Of course, the option is still there to write to the cast although you must remember to enclose a self-addressed envelope and a couple of International Reply Coupons, but even then, sadly you're not guaranteed a reply. That leaves you with just three basic choices. First, you can try and purchase one of the plaques on import (one especially worth considering is a still from "Unification" signed by Leonard Nimoy and Brent Spiner which sells for around £150), but other than that, your only real chance is to hope that the cast member you are interested in attends a convention in your respective country and that you get the chance to get an autograph yourself. The only problem with this is that a number of the cast simply don't travel outside of the US for cons, even less so as most UK cons are not run for profit and are therefore restricted to a small guest budget. The final option is for those of you who, again attend conventions on a regular basis. Most of the larger conventions have charity auctions and in most of these you can find signed photos of the cast up for grabs. Be warned though that photos such as these are NOT cheap - think about it, you are bidding against fans of a particular actor who desperately want the photo!!! Still, if you are ever in the States and you bid for these photos, the chances are that the prices will be far less than in Europe because of the availability of such items. To give you an idea of what sort of prices these photos will fetch a few examples are:- Brent Spiner (£80), Patrick Stewart (£80), Terry Farrell (£40), Leonard Nimoy (£60), Walter Koenig (£30), William Shatner (£60), DeForest Kelly (£60). Minor cast members and guest stars are likely to fetch less, but as a general rule if you get these photos for less than these prices, you've done well! Obviously, signed photos hold more value for some fans than others. For example, I hold my Brent Spiner photo in higher regard than a non-TNG fan would and my Shatner photo more than... well, more than most other Trekkers so it would seem these days! Also, if any of the actors have died, then it's usually safe to say that the autographs would almost double in price immediately. If you ever see Gene Roddenberry's autograph up for grabs and you have the money available... buy it!!! (Just make sure you're getting the genuine article - there ARE forgeries of different cast autographs going around!!) Franklin Mint ------------- For several years, The Franklin Mint have been releasing a series of Star Trek items that can be best described as "luxury" items for the typical Trekker. Where most merchandise manufacturers try to produce items that most fans can afford, the cheapest Franklin Mint item I have ever encountered retailed for £145! Unlike other companies, the merchandise made by Franklin Mint is really pieces of art rather than models or traditional merchandise and should be considered as such. Their replicas of Star Trek ships and their other pieces, are designed by be put on display, not to be used as toys and that is reflected not only by the price, but by the craftmanship and materials used. One thing you must consider with Franklin Mint is that, while most of their pieces are VERY good, there are one or two items that I have seen that are disappointing. If possible, try to find someone who already has one so you can take a look before you buy! As well as this, most Franklin Mint products tend to stay at their original value. While the pieces are only advertised for short periods of time, in most cases they are re-advertised extensively over a period of time. Out of all of the items I have purchased, there are only three that have been limited editions restricted to a one-off production run. If you are looking for items to increase in value, these are the ones to go for. As I said, their products aren't cheap, but they do make excellent focal points to a room - it's just that they'd make more money if they dropped the prices! As a guide, the ship replicas are generally all worth considering, as are their medals/insignias, but I would advise you all to steer clear of any chess sets! Neither the Classic Trek or TNG chess set is worth the £1,000 asking price, and you'll find it near impossible to re-sell them at anything close to what you paid. The Hamilton Collection ----------------------- Not to be outdone in the Star Trek collectible market, The Hamilton Collection have, over the last few years, released an extensive range of collector's plates depicting characters and scenes from the show. While the plates are relatively inexpensive when first issued (not costing more than £25 - £30), the value of some of these has rocketed sky high in a relatively short period of time. It is usually a good bet that if you buy any Hamilton Collection plate, they will increase in value over a period of time. Specials to look out for here are a number of extremely rare editions of some of their plates that are in circulation. First are those that left the factory un-numbered. As these are obviously in short supply, their value amongst collectors is going to be quite considerable. However, there are plates that are even more valuable. When I was involved in the charity auction for T'Kon '94, we were sent a plate from the Hamilton Collection, namely Chekov. It wasn't until the plate was inspected out of the box that it became apparent as to it's rarity. On the back of the plate, instead of finding the plate information and individual plate number, the rear was blank with a written message saying "ADV FIR 7" - in short, this plate came from the pre-production test run! I wouldn't want to even consider how much this plate is worth, but I would guess that it would be well into three figures!! After checking with the Hamilton Collection on this, both the un- numbered plates and the advance firing plates generally NEVER leave the factory, and in the case of the advance firing plates, these are believed to be destroyed in many cases! An added point of interest, the Advance Firing plate mentioned above is actually going to be available in the auction at our convention - Delta Quadrant '96 - in August next year!! Comics ------ Star Trek comics have been around almost as long as the show itself, since Gold Key started publishing their 61 issue run between 1967 and 1979. That was followed in 1979 when Marvel picked up the licence for a brief 18 issue series starting with an adaptation of The Motion Picture. Next came DC in 1984 with a 56-run series of classic Trek which was augmented by a 6 issue TNG mini series in 1988 along with 3 annuals and a couple of specials. After a break of about 12 months, CD returned with ongoing series of both TNG and Classic Trek, complete with annuals, specials, movie adaptations and mini-series. Finally, in 1993 Malibu acquired the rights to Deep Space Nine (and subsequently Voyager) for their ongoing series which has already seen three mini-series and a couple of one-shot specials. Generally, Star Trek comics tend to hold their price reasonably well, increasing only slightly, which is unusual considering the popularity of the titles. However, this has the advantage for collectors meaning that back issues are relatively inexpensive to buy when you are able to find them. There are a few exceptions to this, though. First and obviously are the Gold Key titles. While the stories and artwork were pretty terrible (one that springs to mind was one story that was written and illustrated by an Italian artist who had never even seen an episode of Star Trek!), the first issue is worth several hundred pounds and most of the remainder of the series are worth between £15 and £30 each. Even though they aren't that great to read in comparison to the offerings from DC and Malibu (or even Marvel for that matter!), if you want something that will be worth holding onto, then try and track them down. As for Marvel, the stories didn't fare much better than Gold Key (one "classic" featured Kirk being possessed by the spirit of an ancient Egyptian King!) and as such the value hasn't increased that much. In fact, the premiere edition can still be purchased for around £5 with subsequent issues hovering around the £3 price tag. In all honesty, the Marvel comics are for completists only and should not be purchased if you want them for their collectible value or as something entertaining to read! With the advent of Star Trek III, the rights transferred to DC comics who started their 56-issue Classic Trek run with an adaptation of the film itself. With generally good artwork and storylines, the series proved to be popular amongst collectors and fans and started several writers off on their Star Trek careers including prolific novelist Peter David. Strangely, after 56 issues and a number of annuals and specials, and a six-issue TNG mini-series, the series suddenly stopped... Until 1989 when DC re-launch both Classic Trek and TNG as ongoing series with Classic Trek being penned by Howard Weinstein and TNG by Michael Jan Friedman. Notable guest authors included Bill Mumy (Lost In Space and Babylon 5), John de Lancie, George Takei and Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski!! A superb series which seems likely to go on forever! Early issues have increased in value significantly, and some of the specials are worth a few pounds too! Malibu then joined the ranks of Trek publishers in 1993 when they managed to grab the rights to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine from under the noses of DC. A regular series was launched not long after the show premiered in the States and has proved to be very popular with the fans. The production quality seemed to be far greater than that of DC, with the comic being computer-coloured and printed on glossy paper. But not only did it look good, but the stories were well written as well. Realising that they were onto a hit, a number of one-shot specials and mini-series have also been released as well as a couple of limited edition versions of some of their titles. The only disappointment with Malibu is that, following their buyout by Marvel, the paper quality has dropped somewhat and the release and availability of the title seems rather erratic. Marvel have a rather elitist distribution system preventing some of their non-Trek titles even reaching UK shores, and it has already resulted in one issue of DS9 not being available in sufficient quantities. As well as that, Malibu were supposed to have released an ongoing series of Star Trek: Voyager comics back in January '95, although this has failed to materialised as yet. No explanation has been given, although they did secure the publishing rights long before the series first aired. Where high value comics come into play now is in special limited edition versions of normal comics. Malibu have released a large number of collectors editions of their comics, all of which seem to be doing very well in terms of either holding their value or increasing in value. For their first issue of DS9, there, are to my knowledge, at least 4 different versions available. A standard copy with cover art by Star Trek regular Jerome Moore, a photo cover version, a black cover edition with a line-art drawing of the station embossed on the cover - worth around £15 - and a gold foil cover featuring a single colour version of Jerome Moore's cover, again worth about £15. Next is the extremely hard to find special edition of the first issue of their "Hearts And Minds" mini-series. The first issue had two covers - normal art and a special hologram cover. When I purchased it, the hologram cover was around £10, but I haven't actually seen one since - very scarce! As well as this, Malibu have produced a few other special editions (including special signed editions of their Celebrity Series where they have had Trek actors actually writing the comics and signing a limited number) and photo covers which seem to be doing fairly well price wise, even if they are quite expensive to buy initially. In brief, collecting the comics for long-term profit is only going to pay off if you go for all the collectors editions and track down the older Gold Key/Marvel/DC issues. Otherwise, why not buy them to enjoy the stories - if nothing else, it's another source of new Trek material to read! Videos ------ From a collectors point of view, most Trek videos are easily available at their original retail prices years after they were first released. Even the boxed sets of the movies which were heralded as being collectors items are still fairly easy to find in most high street video outlets. In fact, with Star Trek videos, if you shop around you can actually buy most of the titles cheaper than the RRP and you will often find dealers running special promotions with tapes on offer for £7.99 or less. However, most of you will have seen (if you don't already own them) the special collectors editions of selected episodes, namely "Emissary", "All Good Things..." and the soon-to-be-released "Caretaker". All of these tapes have been produced with limited production runs and in the case of the TNG cassette, sold out very quickly. Each of the tapes is also numbered, so if you can find a low number, all the better. Although the tapes originally sold for £19.99 each, an "Emissary" special edition (number 10) fetched £100 at an auction not long after its release and at the Generations convention three copies of "All Good Things..." were auctioned (numbers 14, 24 and 33) and fetched £70, £60 and £60 respectively. While the "Emissary" cassette can still be bought for it's normal retail price (due to CIC overestimating its market appeal), the TNG video is impossible to buy. The best thing to do if you want this is to scour the small ads in your local papers - I was able to pick up a TNG Collectors Edition tape only a few weeks ago for just £15!!! In short, if any more collectors edition videos are released, buy them as soon as you can, and if possible order them in advance to secure your copy. Action Figures -------------- Star Trek action figures have always been popular items amongst collectors, right since the early days of Trek merchandise. The first set of Star Trek figures to be released were an 8" range of Classic Trek figures released in the 70's by Mego. While the likenesses left something to be desired, each of the figures (which included Kirk, Spock and a number of alien races) came with fairly accurate fabric costumes. Some of the more common figures in this range are commanding prices of around £30 - £40 each, with some of the more alien characters (such as the Romulan or Andorian) selling for well in excess of £500!! Other than short-lived series released to coincide with movies (including two Star Trek: The Motion Picture sets from Mego, and a Star Trek III set from Ertl), the next major range didn't appear until 1987 when Galoob released their range of TNG figures. Released in two very short production runs, the figures themselves looked pretty awful, but that didn't stop them becoming fairly sought after, especially the alien characters from the second run which became fairly scarce. The first batch of figures can be picked up for between £10 and £20 each (with the exception of Tasha and the FOUR different versions of Data which are worth between £30 and £50 each!), and the second run can command figures of anything up to £100 for some of the rarer figures such as Q. After this, there wasn't really anything in the way of action figures other than the five figures released from Star Trek V until Playmates started in 1992 with their TNG range. The series started with a short run of around 10 figures, each retailing for about £6. The interesting point here is that for this and the next couple of sets, they were released in two different packages - a US edition and a European version with several languages. Naturally, UK fans wanted the US editions, while the European versions are in demand in the States. The figures themselves are the best seen so far, and they do seem to be doing well in terms of value. As each series stops being produced, the prices slowly rise and some of the early figures are now fetching around £30 each. The DS9 range also sold quite well, with again high prices being sought for some of the more scarce figures. Figures to look out for are the first Troi figure, any Borg figure, the first Geordi with a removable VISOR (this was glued on figures later in the production run), Kirk, Chekov, Soran, Guinan and a few of the other Generations figures. However, the best figures to try and find are those with low numbers, "special" numbers such as 1701, or mis- packaged figures. One example is a Picard figure I managed to pick up for £6.99... with Riker's base! Ultimately, it depends on what you want the figures for. The prices mentioned will only apply if the figures remain unopened. However, I know of more than a few fans who buy the figures, open them and put them on display. If that's all you want the figures for, then that's great, but if you are after collectibles and items as an investment, then KEEP THEM SEALED!! Trading Cards ------------- Star Trek trading cards have been around almost as long as the series itself. However, as collectibles, their values fluctuate wildly. As with all trading cards, they hold their value best when retained as a complete set, although some individual cards can be worth a reasonable amount, especially with the more recent releases from Skybox. Some of the earlier cards are now fairly difficult to get hold of, but despite this, the majority aren't too expensive. The main exception to this is the first ever 72 card set released by Leaf in 1967, the full set currently being valued at around £1,500!! Following on from this was Topps' first set released in 1976 which has a price of around £225 for 88 cards. Other than this, most sets should cost you more than between £20 for the more recent sets and £70 for the 30 card Star Trek II set. However, the big money in cards as far as Trek is concerned started in 1991 when Skybox (who were known as Impel at the time) released their 25th Anniversary series. While the whole set of 310 cards is only valued at around £20, there were four limited hologram cards produced and these can fetch about £15 - £20 each! Since then, Skybox have released card sets at an alarming rate, although they do seem to keep their values pretty well. It is just the hologram/foil cards that you'll have trouble tracking down. Basically, the sets can all be found for around £10 - £15 each, but be prepared to pay anything up to around £60 for some of the special cards, such as the Gold hologram from the first TNG set (worth about £25 as opposed to around £10 for the standard holograms), and the new animated "skymotion" cards which feature animations from the show... but these tend to weigh in at an astonishing £60 each. To collect them, if you are just after the cards, then check out dealers or go to conventions where you shouldn't have any trouble in buying pre-sorted sets. However, if you want the special cards, it may be worth buying the cards by the box - you usually get a full set, along with a few of the special cards as well! Promotional Products -------------------- Finally, there is another area of Trek merchandise dealing with items that were produce purely for promotional purposes. In almost every instance, once the promotion has ended, the value of the items increases dramatically, the most notable in recent years being the Classic Trek Pizza Hut promotion. A set of 4 cups that originally sold for £0.99 each are now valued at around £100 for the set! Unfortunately, because of the popularity of the Classic Trek set, Pizza Hut saturated the market with the TNG cups meaning that the supply outstripped the demand several times over, leaving the cups relatively worthless as collectors items! One of the most prized promotional items however has to be the famed press kits. Produced by Paramount for each new season of Star Trek, these features press stills and releases in a presentation case. I have seen these sell frequently at conventions for as much as £300 a time, so if you ever get hold of one, keep it! The only way you are likely to get hold of one of these is either by attending an auction at a convention or if you are a member of the press - it's as simple as that. That will give you an idea of how difficult they are to obtain. To highlight this further, Paramount won't even make these available to fan publishers, despite the amount of publicity they would receive as a result. Other similar press kits tend to fetch equally high prices. The Voyager press kit given away by CIC at their press launch for the videos is certainly a hot item - especially when most of them were carried away by Red Dwarf's Craig Charles! Finally, we come onto the much-maligned CD single "Make It So" that was released by UIP to promote the cinematic release of Star Trek Generations. This CD was produced as a promotional item, and was sent to radio stations across the country, in the hope that airplay for the single would promote the film. As well as radio stations, a select number of copies were sent to the press, and the remainder were retained by UIP for use as competition prizes or were donated to conventions for auctions etc. The average Trekker will find it near on impossible to obtain this unless you get it through an auction or competition. While there are no exact figures on the number of CDs produced, it is estimated that there are no more than between 500 - 2,000 worldwide. If you see it in an auction, the typical UK price is around £30, although at the Generations convention in the Royal Albert Hall, London, a copy was auctioned for a staggering £300!! Well, hopefully that will have given you a taste of what's out there and how much some pieces of merchandise are really worth. If you can afford it, get collecting - it will be a great investment for life!