This 60-Year-Old Star Trek Prop Just Became a $250K Collector’s Holy Grail

In the last six decades, there have been several sci-fi franchises that have redefined the genre for three generations. Star Trek still remains one of the most influential and most imitated sci-fi shows. Now, 60 years after the USS Enterprise set out on its original five-year mission, a piece of the original 1960s TV series has boldly gone to auction and ended up going where few Star Trek props have gone before. A Starfleet Type-2 phaser from the original series sold as part of Prop Store’s Summer Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction for a staggering $250,000, comfortably beaming past its high-end estimate of $150,000. The iconic sidearm carried by Captain James T. Kirk, Spock and their fellow officers is one of the most instantly recognizable weapons in sci-fi history, becoming part of the often-quoted line of “Set phasers to stun.” A screen-used example selling for quarter of a million dollars proves that interest in the franchise has certainly not diminished over time.

The phaser has become an ultimate Star Trek grail for simply being an item that is not only a huge part of the franchise’s history, but also a defining step forward in sci-fi weaponry at the time it first appeared on screen. Until Star Trek: The Original Series aired in 1966, the world had been used to seeing futuristic ray guns and laser blasters in serials such as Flash Gordon. The phaser designed for the series by Walter “Matt” Jeffries was something completely different. Just like his designs for the Enterprise, Jeffries created something that had never been seen in sci-fi at the time; a weapon with an elongated handgrip and a detachable top-mounted Type-1 phaser that could be set to stun or kill. The significant leap forward in the visionary style of Star Trek: The Original Series was enough to earn Jeffries the only Emmy award of his career – another reason why this piece caused such a stir when going under the hammer.

How This Star Trek Prop Became a $250K Rarity

The particular phaser that hit Prop Store’s auction block on Wednesday is one of the rarest known phaser props from the original series, being one of only five known to exist. Science fiction shows of the 1960s and 1970s needed to get creative with their prop designs, making a limited number of expensive “hero” versions for close-up shots and several cheaper ones for wide shots where they did not have to be seen “working.” Star Trek: The Original Series made a third type of prop early in the filming of its first season. This was a “midgrade” phaser, one that sat in between the other two as a highly detailed version that looked good on screen but did not have all the functionality of the “hero” prop.  The example in this auction was in very good condition, coming from the collection of a long-serving Paramount executive and having only minor wear and discoloration, explaining why several bidders were willing to push the price higher.

Star Trek has evolved in many ways over the last 60 years, with more than a dozen spin-offs and movies now continuing to find new frontiers to be conquered by the next generation. While the rebooted movie franchise from J.J. Abrams brought another timeline to the franchise, that has stalled in recent years despite numerous rumors of a new movie being in development. Star Trek does continue to put out new shows on Paramount+, with the likes of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds paving the way for the next phase of the franchise. With a new brand new movie rumored to be now in development alongside existing TV shows, Star Trek will continue to be a sci-fi giant for many years to come, and who knows, maybe one day some of the weapons being used in these productions will find their place in the $250,000 club alongside the classic phaser.

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