Star Trek auction boldly goes to $7m take

NEW YORK—The first auction of official "Star Trek" memorabilia hit warp speed on Saturday when a determined bidder paid $576,000 for a model of the legendary science fiction franchise's starship Enterprise, helping drive the total for the three-day sale above $7 million.
All of the 1,000 lots of props, costumes, models and miniatures and other ephemera from the five "Star Trek" television series and 10 feature films on offer at Christie's auction house found buyers.
Virtually all sold for more than their pre-sale estimates. The total taking of $7,107,040, including commission, was far more than double what had been expected.
The Enterprise top lot set a record for a piece of "Star Trek" memorabilia, and also attained one of the highest prices ever paid for any piece of Hollywood memorabilia.
The 78-inch-long (198-cm) model of the Starship Enterprise-D, used extensively in the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" television series, was bought by an unidentified private American collector bidding via telephone.
The model, which also featured in "Star Trek: Generations," the first movie based on the "Next Generation" show, had been estimated at $15,000 to $25,000.
Fans dressed as the characters Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Mr. Spock, originally played by Patrick Stewart and Leonard Nimoy, respectively, packed Christie's main salesroom, more traditionally lined with Picassos and Monets, for the marathon auction.—Agencies