Star Trek Model Lawsuit: New Details Revealed

[@charlesmaurer6214]

With such a case the Judge will likely order another auction but the auction company here must be disqualified due to the conflict and damages would be awarded to the other parties from the proceeds, perhaps the auction house could loose their licensing or face major fines. We have seen similar auction house fraud cases in the 90's on in NY that nearly bankrupted the US branch of one of the major ones more than once.

[@Anymouse6980]

I am seeing this after the live stream. This is not a negative comment. It was the “Smith-Corona” typewriter. I know because my folks had a 1930’s mechanical, black and red ink ribbon that I hammered away on. That’s the reason why I still keyboard the way I do. You can hear me “typing” in another room. Finally, it is sad when fandom and business cross when the people involved do not understand where they are at, legally.

[@ronisin710]

Jim Dow and Richard Taylor examined the refit miniature and concluded it is beyond repair. It was never built to be on permanent display.

[@TREK-WORLD]

You are referring to the TMP miniature and not the TOS miniature, correct?

[@PetesGuide]

Heritage is based in Texas, so that’s where the lawsuit has to be filed.

[@TREK-WORLD]

Hi Pete! Actually, the lawsuit can (and already has been) be filed in CA since both the sellers and Heritage maintain an active presence in the state. If the lawsuit had been filed in the wrong state, the court would not have accepted the complaint, ordered and process the defendant's answer, authorized and proceeded with depositions, and then accepted the most current amended complaint. If the court didn't have the jurisdiction over the case, it would have rejected the filing. And if by some rare error, they had accepted it by accident when it was filed; then Heritage would have moved for immediate dismissal of the case. So, at this point, we are legally already way past any "wrong state" complications in this case.

[@PetesGuide]

@ Oh! Also, I tried to send you some comments by X DM but that option is no longer there. I thought I had dm’d you before but couldn’t find any trace of our conversation.

[@TREK-WORLD]

Interesting... I'm still there. But I have noticed that the universal inbox I use has not brought anything in from X in a while. I assumed it was just a setting in the inbox. But I may have to go to X and see what is going on if it doesn't let you DM from there.

[@PetesGuide]

@ Oh boy! I haven’t used a universal inbox since I stopped using outlook. What software are you using for that?

[@TREK-WORLD]

@@PetesGuide It's a feature of one of the CRMs I use for content creation, it's called VistaSocial. It integrates with X, KZbin, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Reddit, and TikTok. Its not bad at all. But it is slow to aggregate for me. Usually I get comments about a day or so after they are posted. I usually end up hitting KZbin directly for a more fluid experience for the viewer comments. And then I wait for VistaSocial to gather the others to me for review and response.

[@earth2006]

I think the model should be donated to the Smithsonian to spend eternity with its big brother.

[@Dularr]

@@earth2006 the big brother is now in storage.

[@diningbadger953]

Interesting. The world of Star Trek goes under the gavel.

[@charlesmaurer6214]

The problem with the Smithsonian and another owner is the Smithsonian has been known to use the power of government to seize items or violate property rights once they have access. Unless the owner in another government or head of state I wouldn't trust anything to their care without a full sale to them.

[@Dmarcoot]

citation for that accusation

[@charlesmaurer6214]

@@Dmarcoot The last one was one of the original copies of the Declaration of Independence that I know of in the las few years. Also you might read Dewhurst book The Giants That Ruled America that some of the evidence I saw first hand as a child at the former Charleston WV Sunrise Museum backing his work. It details a long going coverup and even destruction of certain items. For every item permitted to be displayed they have a warehouse worth of Items not available to independent researchers. I'm not going to cite just one but direct you to a couple sources to that cover several each. A much longer tomb is a book called Forbidden Archeology by Cremo and Thompson. I have a BA in history myself and have seen the pattern over the years. At Sunrise they had a copper broadsword that was as strong and hard as steel and some of the red hair form the giant removed by the Smithsonian and now they say never existed despite good records kept locally of the dig and transfer to DC. Dewhurst covers much of the US in his book while I am just mentioning my local case that the book Kanawha County Images also covers some of. The Clay Family sold Sunrise to a Law firm and moved some art and science stuff to the Clay Center but the history stuff is gone now. As a child I had a flint napping class in the attic that held the sword in a case along with a visit to the Planetarium (that played the soundtrack of Star Trek II) and an Animal room that kept a small selection of native birds and snakes. I also bought an eraser and a small bit of a few meteorites from the gift shop that I no longer have. Sunrise had a good view of the State Capitol as well from the patio and it once belonged to a prior State Governor (MacCorkle). I can remember others cases but not with the detail to site of the top of my head. I hope you never trust the government or any of its branches such as the Smithsonian as any native tribe can attest to and I hope this list can get you started on the proof you seek. I have studied history over 30 years as a primary passion. BTW a fun fact to end it on at the time they got that red diamond on display there were only 7 known to exist, it was shipped to DC in a standard envelope via first class mail without insurance. No armored car or police escort, just regular mail carrier in a paper envelope that could have torn open anyplace along the way.

[@TREK-WORLD]

Actually, what most people do not understand is that the Smithsonian only has the ability to display well less than 2% of the items it has curated. The rest is warehoused in storage. And many of the rarest items of historical importance are secured and kept away from researchers. That has been its design and policy since the beginning. A really good example of both of these is that they have in their possession not only the 11ft model, but also the Klingon Battlecruiser. The 11ft has been on semi-permanent display for decades. Whereas the Klingon model has only been seen at rare events like the 1992 Star Trek exhibit. When Paramount was making Phase2/TMP, they asked to borrow both models back to use for preproduction. The official answer in cases like that is always "no". But they agreed to at least let the Klingon model go back to Paramount for their use. The only condition was that it had to be returned. When Paramount returned it to them after they were done with it; the returned it inside a box - where it has been broken into several pieces and the Smithsonian had to then do a complete restoration on it in order to be ready for the 1992 event. And because of the damage done to the model, they had to repaint it flat gray.... Which resulted in the loss of the original two-tone paint job. The Smithsonian is an archive. And as such, it has the right to be aggressive in identifying strategically important pieces and taking them into their custody. However, it's a two-edged sword. That's why I personally wouldn't ask the Smithsonian to take the 3ft model. They would stick it in a box in a warehouse as-is. They would consider the model to be a "conservation" item.

[@charlesmaurer6214]

@@TREK-WORLD But as you just pointed out in addition to the issues I stated they failed to conserve the item in their care but broke the item then went further on an ad hoc repair and failed to even try to match the paint, further destroying the record. While I don't expect them to display all. legitimate researchers with some limited restrictions must be allowed access or they fail to be even an archive as an archive must be an useable searchable storehouse or it might as well just be a disposal service graveyard like the catacombs of Paris less a few small sections with the bones supporting the city above..

[@TREK-WORLD]

@@charlesmaurer6214 Hi Charles! I'm not disagreeing with you at all. I'm just saying that what you're describing has always been part of the way they've managed anything they curate. I'm not saying that they are right, or wrong, they just simply do what they do. It's a surprise to most people; but as you mentioned - it's been going on for decades or longer. It's just far more noticeable with things like the the Declaration of Independence, Old Glory, etc. They are actually not required to do anything with item's in their curations. And that simply means that we get things like the over-and-above beyond all expectations conservation and restoration of the 11ft model... It is a rare event and not the norm. I think that the average person just assumes they are like that with everything. But it's no way near that.