Star Trek Auction Beams Up $7M

The first Star Trek auction ever 'beamed up' a whopping $7 million.  The world famous auction house Christie's underestimated the Star Trek fans.  They placed the initial estimate at about $3 million, but Trekkies boldly went where Christies thought they could not. 

Star Trek Auction Beams Up $7M

Case in point, Christie's estimated that a replica of the Starship Enterprise (pictured) used in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" would command between $25,000 and $35,000.

The actual haul? $576,000.

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A model of the Starship Enterprise-E sold for $132,000,  and a Borg cube model from Star Trek: First Contact fetched $96,000. They were only expected to raise $8,000 and $1,000 respectively.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard's chair sold for more than $62,000, while the auction's final lot, a model of the Starship Enterprise-A, fetched $284,000.

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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.

Christie's staff members also donned "Star Trek" garb as they fielded bids via telephone.

The auction house's new on-line bidding service was an important part of the sale, seeing its strongest response since it launched during the summer.

--Lynda Johnson writes from Hollywood