THE DAILY BLADE: Star Trek Memorabilia Auction Is A Stellar Success
In its Approval Matrix ("Our deliberately oversimplified guide to who falls where on our taste hierarchies"), the October 9 issue of New York Magazine deems Trek Passions just about as lowbrow as it gets, and significantly closer to being "desperate" than "brilliant." Nevertheless, there’s no denying that the folks who would join this "100% Free Dating, Personals and Social Networking for Singles into Sci Fi" have lots of money. And we’re not talking Credits, Quatloos or Latinum.
Reuters reports that an auction of 1,000 lots of props, costumes, models and miniatures from the original "Star Trek" TV series, as well as its four spin-offs and 10 feature films brought in $7,107,040, including commission, more than double the amount that Christie's auction house expected.
Here is a sampling of the winning bids:
† A model of the Starship Enterprise-D: $576,000 (Christie’s estimate was $15,000 to $25,000);
† A model of a Klingon Bird-of-Prey: $307,200 (more than 30 times the estimate of $8,000 to $12,000);
† Picard's Enterprise-E captain's chair: $52,000 (pre-sale estimate, $7,000 to $8,000); and
† A Borg cube from Star Trek: First Contact: $96,000 (expected to raise only $1,000).
Based on these eye-popping numbers, it is clear Christie’s was clueless in determining an appropriate valuation for these iconic pop-culture relics, and should stick to pricing Ellen Barkin’s unwanted baubles and chi-chi bric-a-brac. Extrapolating from the auction results, The Stiletto estimates that a pair of Vulcan ears worn by Leonard Nimoy during the filming of "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" that she got from said actor/director is currently worth as much as $15,000. Not that she would ever sell them … but it’s good to know.
WTC Cross Has New Temporary Home
Two-ton steel beams in the shape of a 20-foot-high cross that survived the Twin Towers' collapse and were found in a shaft of light amid the smoldering pile of rubble were moved from Ground Zero to The Church of St. Peter so that work on a long-overdue memorial to the 3000 victims can get under way. The cross was accompanied by victims' families, clergy and hard-hat workers on its short journey to Barclay and Church Streets, where it will remain until the scheduled September 11, 2009 opening of the World Trade Center Memorial Museum.
Update
Report: Bronx Charity "Looted" By Officials; Stolen Funds Used To Start Up Lefty Radio Network Air America
A two-year investigation the city Department of Investigation found that six former officials of the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club in The Bronx looted the charity and used $1.2 million in taxpayer money from programs meant for kids, the elderly and the disabled to pay for luxury cars, home renovations and furniture. Most of the money - $875,000 - went toward an illegal loan for lefty Air America radio network to cover start-up costs, reports the New York Post.
The charity received $9 million a year in city financing to help children and the elderly. Money from such programs was diverted into off-the-books bank accounts that were used to pay bonuses to the executive director and four other officials," according to The New York Times. The paper adds:
The commissioner of investigation, Rose Gill Hearn, called the Gloria Wise case the worst instance of wrongdoing by a nonprofit contractor she had seen since taking office in 2002. …
The investigation into Gloria Wise, which began with an anonymous tip in 2004, revealed last year that the charity had improperly lent the $875,000 to Air America, a network known for liberal programming and for hosts like Al Franken.
Meanwhile, residents of the Co-Op City section of The Bronx are up in arms that Attorney General/Gubanatorial Candidate Eliot Spitzer accepted plea deals that do not include a single day in the slammer:
"That's a sore spot for me," said Frederick Lewis, the group's new leader.
"People go to jail for much less than that," fumed Lewis. "These people took advantage of the city and state. We have to let them know you don't get away with this ... It's a disgrace."
Parents with kids in Gloria Wise's Co-op City day care center were also up in arms.
"I work so hard and I can barely make tuition," said doorman Vernon Rainford, 41, who has a 3-year-old at Gloria Wise. …
Rachel Santiago, 32, recalled that whenever she was a day late on tuition payments, the Gloria Wise day care center threatened to expel her daughter Ade, now 7.
"It's definitely upsetting for that reason," she said. "Money stolen should have to be returned."
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