I already have two Angel props on top of my bookcase but that's some cool stuff. What I've never been able to find is an affordable Buffy prop worth buying. Pretty much given up.

Tonya J | March 11, 21:30 CET

God what I wouldnt give to be able to afford the Gem of Amarra and the Shanshu prophecy scroll.

Sigh-I had to pick a career with no money....

angeliclestat | March 11, 21:32 CET

There are several cool drawings that would make excellent secret geek tattoos. And I'm currently the high bidder on my favorite.

deadbessie | March 11, 22:05 CET

Sweetness. If I could convince myself that the expense was justifiable, I would so win the Gem of Amarra.

wileyman | March 11, 22:38 CET

I'm not a usually prop-craving person, but I'm seriously jonesing for the Gem of Amara - it's a Buffy/Angel crossover prop, which is a doubleplusgood kindof cool, and it's jewelry! Always appropriate!

And I love paper/epherema props - all the booky/symbolic/mythology hoohah just does it for me, so I'm wanting the Shansu prophecy bigtime. Oh, and statuary!, too! The Granath figure would go so nicely in my collection of goddesses and gods from around the world.

I may have to go sign up for an eBay membership/account/whatever it takes. *sigh* How I've avoided it this long, I couldn't say, but I've been trying to stay fiscally smart and responsible - you know, be all grown up and stuff.

*eyes Gem again covertly*

Lookit how it glows... all green-like and shiny...

QuoterGal | March 11, 22:46 CET

The green fits in well with the jealousy over whoever ends up with it. My Preciousssssss...

Tonya J | March 11, 23:17 CET

Maybe I'd be okay if I just wore it on a chain around my neck for a while...

Ahhhhhh! Must have! One Prop To Rule Them All!

QuoterGal | March 12, 01:34 CET

I'm the current high bidder for the shanshu scroll, but I doubt that'll last.

elfgirl | March 12, 02:15 CET

It's like the Dinner With Joss Auction only greatly demagnified. Okay, maybe not quite, but still, the same feeling of hopelessness that you're not going to get what you want without the necessary funds.

Tonya J | March 12, 02:50 CET

What I like about the drawings is that they are easy to display.
I have one of the gold faces that were up on the walls of the Magic Shop. I *really* don't need anything else. But you do, QuoterGal. That ring practically has your name on it....

Lioness | March 12, 04:25 CET

I'm with Lioness, QG, you definitely need that ring. I'd go for it myself except I'm hoping to go to ComicCon, as you know and the two are mutually exclusive ;-). Some very shiny items there.

samatwitch | March 12, 05:03 CET

QG, do you have anything you can sell FAST? I note it's up to $542.00 and change the last time I checked. I love that skeleton statuary but I just don't have the extra cash.

Tonya J | March 12, 05:24 CET

I'm with you, QuoterGal -- it's all about the ephemera and related accoutrements for me. I have a bit of an unhealthy attachment to vintage papers of all kinds, and way back in the days of the official BtVS prop auction, I was hoping to see books, books, BOOKS from the Sunnydale Library or Giles' personal collection. Figured there were so many of them, they'd no doubt turn up. No such luck. The one that got away? Regret to this day bailing out of an early auction for the library's hanging wooden In/Out box with nail-head letters. I'm not a collector of props or 'verse memorabilia of any kind, so I loved the idea of incorporating something useful and interesting into my home that had this secret history. /sigh. If you bought that one and have tired of it... do let me know. ;)

All this by way of saying, if you don't just want it, but you're craving it, consider how you might feel afterwards if you do pass. Might be time to put practical aside...

barest_smidgen | March 12, 05:32 CET

I would be surprised if the GoA goes for less than $1500. Its a major prop that appeared in TWO television shows with a cult following. Granted its not the same ring from both shows (probably) but who cares?

Many of the auctioned drawings are signed by JW99. Does anyone know who the JW is??? (I assume its not Joss or we would have probably had a different looking GrrrArrrgg vampire.)

alexreager | March 12, 07:49 CET

Yep, that's a big chunk of change for working stiffs, of which I am one. Joss has surprised me before with his array of talent. Not only is he an excellent writer with exquisite dramatic sensibilities in general, but a lyricist, learned how to compose music, and turned out a fabulous musical episode of Buffy. If it became known he could draw as well, you know, HUZZAH! I'd say take up sculpting or designing topiaries next but he has to knuckle down and work on Dollhouse for God's sake!

My Angel props were not any named in an episode but sort of lived in characters' personal spaces. My great statuary was in Angel's first bedroom in L.A., the one that got blown up. And my little Dia de los muertos papier mache skull lived in Harmony's bedroom, so it's nice to know they soaked up some on-set atmosphere before they came to me.

Tonya J | March 12, 08:14 CET

One Prop to Rule them All
All else beside them
QG can hack the sun
But pierce-proof heart is...

Definitely worth the money.

dreamlogic | March 12, 11:10 CET

Garsh, I missed all these kind/enabling posts (and poems, DL - and you've been witness to other such spending follies) - I thought the only way I could resist some reckless bidding was to go offline until everything got too rich for my blood... and while that's happened for the ring ($610), it hasn't quite happened for the scroll ($300) or the statue ($111.50).

*starts to bite nails*

I do have stuff to sell or money I could scrape up, but I am trying so hard to save for that trip to the homeland (England) that may already have to be put off a year, and I just can't justify whim-ish purchases that may interfere with other whim-ish delights...

(Yeah, barest_ - the ephemera is my downfall... I pity the poor bastard(s) who have to dig out my home after I'm gone, trying to decide what to do with a vintage "Pogo for President" poster, or a bill of lading for the ancestor's steamboat or unused boxes for "Healthful Cigarettes" from the early 20's. Not only do I come from a long line of obsessive antique buyers and paper hoarders, but my grandmother was an antique dealer, in a small way, and she was hipped on the DAR, so I have every single piece of paper - and photograph/daguerrotype - from a long, long long line of crazy paper hoarders and buyers. Arrghhh.)

Well, we'll see... I'll let all y'all know if I cracked...

QuoterGal | March 12, 19:58 CET

:: Bites fingernails ... wonders what QG is up to ... ::

:?)

Tonya J | March 13, 20:21 CET

I haven't cracked yet, Tonya... but then, closer to the end is when I would get into the act, anyway...

*goes online to check bank balance.*

It's still anybody's game, innit?

*joins Tonya in biting her nails. I mean, her own nails. Oh, nevermind.*


ETA: I just signed up for an eBay account... and put everything I wanted on my watch list (and there was more I hadn't noticed before.)

I suspect there will be a bid or two made (see how my language got all passive there? Like it wasn't gonna be "me" making the bids; they were just going to be made somehow... I'm in bad, bad denial...

[ edited by QuoterGal on 2008-03-13 21:13 ]

QuoterGal | March 13, 20:51 CET

Okay, the answer is that I have almost no willpower at all - but I do have some.

The original props I wanted have gone beyond my league, with just an hour and a half-ish to go:

Angel "The Idol of Granath" - $US $350.00
Angel "Gem of Amara" - US $1,025.00
Angel "Scrolls of Obearsian" - US $520.00

so I've let all of that go... and there are still the prop ballet tickets from Angel and a few other Angel knicks-and-knacks that are interesting, but not compelling enough to jump beyond their current bids...

But there were some very cool Buffy and Angel concept drawings, and I just joined in the bidding at the very end and nabbed some of my top choices. I got the concept drawing of the Hellmouth - very cool, and the one I wanted the most - and for "The Judge" and for the demon "Kulak" as well as some other assorted, generic demons.

I lost out on a concept drawing of the demon Anya from "The Wish" (*sniff*) as well as the drawings for "Ken" from "Anne" and the demon from "Gingerbread"... there are some very determined (and quick) bidders on there... and I put a little toe-in-the-water bid for the Mohra Demon drawings - which are just lovely - from Angel's "I Will Remember You" and within minutes we drove it up from $61 to $152.50, so I'm checking out of that Heartbreak Hotel, too.

Man, this is an adrenaline-charging and addicting thing to do... I think it may have been a mistake to sign up for an eBay account... I was shouting and swearing at the end, like, "Oh, no you f**cking did-ent, I am so getting this one, b**t**rd." This may not be the smartest move I've ever made, in a long lifetime of impulse-driven choices. ; >

QuoterGal | March 17, 06:44 CET

You know ... I had a fee-ling. :>) I'm glad you didn't bust your bank account m'dear, but that you got some schtuff you really like. Wonderful! You can get them framed.

Tonya J | March 17, 08:44 CET

Final price for the Gem of Amara Ring (You better sit down for this one)

US $2,284.59

That is insane. And to think Angel just smashed it when he could have made some serious cash!!

The person who won it bid in last second and after checking his feedback (Sucks to see people fighting it out for days/hours and have someone with a big wallet swoop in at the end) is a sci fi fanatic so, at least it wasn't some company.

Regardless the proceeds went to a good cause so.

Also the Scrolls of Obersian sold for US $1,225.00.

Felipewcw | March 17, 09:02 CET

Um, I got my drawings... and they are xeroxes. I went back to read the original ebay descriptions and in one place it does say "copies", but it wasn't prominent and I don't think it was very noticeable... The word "drawings" was used repeatedly and I certainly assumed they were the original drawings themselves. Maybe more fool I, but there it is...

That changed the whole thing for me... I won't return 'em or raise a fuss, 'cause it is for Hilltop, but I'm a bit gutted. I neeeeeever would have spent that kind of cash on xeroxes... endless xeroxes can be made of the originals.

Blerg.

*pouts and kicks eBay and Hilltop square in the nu*s.*

QuoterGal | April 01, 22:30 CET

Ouch :(

zeitgeist | April 01, 22:34 CET

That sucks, Quoter Gal. I'm very sorry to hear that. I hope the other stuff in the auction was really what it was advertised to be.

Sunfire | April 01, 22:38 CET

Oh, QuoterGal, that's awful! I'm so, so sorry. I looked ever all of the items briefly when the auctions were posted and thought it was surprising and wonderful that all of those original drawings were in the mix. Totally didn't see "copies" either... just "DRAWINGS!! DRAWINGS!! DRAWINGS!!" everywhere. In my line of work, even the slightest hint of trying to minimize a fact like that, whether it be with font size, position or number of times mentioned vs. "drawings" -- well, it would be considered fraudulent. I know... not hardly helpful now. I guess I'm just saying I completely understand your disappointment and frustration and feeling of being hoodwinked, even (especially?) with the fine print. Boo, hiss. /rummages through closet for steel-toed boots to join in the virtual-kicking-party.

(That said, I don't know a soul who has even xeroxes or blurry jpgs of the drawings you scored, so you're still way cooler than us.)

barest_smidgen | April 01, 22:58 CET

Thanks, guys... you're the folks that get what this means to me...

I did let my ebay feedback reflect my irritation with this problem, but I may also email my complaint to the coordinator of this auction - which isn't Hilltop, but an org (i.e., just one person, I think...) that manages auctions.

I think my best revenge will be to scan and distribute these as far and wide as possible, so they can't be sold via these means again. (And yeah, barest - I usedta fundraise for a non-profit, and I would have seriously thrown a hissy-fit if anyone at my org tried to get away with this kind of misdirect.)

Ah, well - they are still shiny, and soon everyone will have them. Keep your eyes peeled and check sometime in the next week or so at my regular haunts *coughGonerscough* for at least a respectable size and clean jpg of the xeroxes... and then you can all be cool like me. ; >

QuoterGal | April 01, 23:52 CET

/waits for QG's feedback to show up for eBay seller and hopes it didn't *magically* disappear.

barest_smidgen | April 02, 01:14 CET