Trove of cinematic treasures up for auction
Collection for sale in Toronto after death of dealer, who wanted to give works to TIFF
More than 150 pieces of cinema history are up for auction in Toronto this week.
There’s a life-size mannequin of Mystique, the willowy blue character from X-Men, and the iconic claws of Wolverine, the mutant played by Hugh Jackman throughout the blockbuster franchise.
There are model assault rifles from Platoon, a life-size zebra model from Legends of the Fall and a plaster composite life mask of John F. Kennedy from JFK.
It’s a cinephile’s dream come true. And the back story on this 155-lot collection — up for auction through Waddington’s, and valued by the auction house at between $45,000 and $70,000 — is filled with the drama of a Hollywood script. The pieces come from FXSMITH, the now-closed studio owned by Toronto resident Gordon Smith, a Canadian special effects pioneer who developed the innovative silicon prosthetics first seen on-screen in the 1994 Brad Pitt drama Legends of the Fall.
“Now in the industry, there’s not a studio in the world that doesn’t use it,” says Smith, who spent three decades making movie magic.
Smith decided to sell his massive collection a few years ago because he wanted some extra cash for his retirement.
Enter Billy Jamieson, a local dealer and collector known for his love of the bizarre and macabre.
The shrunken-head aficionado and soon-to-be reality television star met with Smith while filming History Television’s Treasure Trader in 2011. Episode three of the short-lived series chronicled their interaction, in which Smith showed off his piles of props and Jamieson offered him a hefty $250,000 to buy the collection.
With a handshake, Smith accepted.
“I believe that Gordon accepted my offer mainly because I intend to give most of his collection to the people at the Toronto International Film Festival,” Jamieson said in the episode.
Fast forward to this week, and Smith says that’s still the case: He loved the notion of keeping the collection intact in Toronto and isn’t pleased it has wound up in an online auction at Waddington’s.
“I’m brokenhearted it’s not at TIFF,” he says. “It’s the biggest collection in the country relative to the film industry.”
But the verbal arrangement got a little messy. While still filming Treasure Trader, Jamieson died of a heart attack at home on his 57th birthday — July 3, 2011 — leaving behind his fiancée and co-star, Jessica Phillips.
Since then, Phillips has faced the complicated task of being the co-executor of the Jamieson estate, which includes over 3,000 pieces of tribal art, furniture and oddities from around the world. “Everything has to go somewhere when you’re liquidating. That’s the reality. It has been a massive job,” says the 32-year-old art dealer and collector. That “everything” includes hundreds
of pieces of FXSMITH items: Silicon stunt doubles, life-size animal dummies, dozens of concept sketches.
Phillips says there was no contractual agreement outlining a donation of the items to TIFF, and after four years of back and forth, there is still nothing set in stone.
“I can’t get stuck with this massive collection,” she explains.
TIFF did, however, host an exhibition of Smith’s work.
In a statement to the Star, Sylvia Frank, director of TIFF’s Film Reference Library and curator of the 2012 exhibition, says the collection represents over 40 years of special effects.
“TIFF was fortunate and honoured to present the Gordon Smith: X-Men Master exhibition free to over 17,000 visitors, however, the Collection was not donated to TIFF,” Frank said in the statement, which does not elaborate further on the discussions re- garding a possible donation.
Phillips says she truly wishes the collection could have ended up at TIFF, had the timing worked out. But even so, she says it may be better off available for sale to the public.
Sean Quinn, a decorative arts specialist with Waddington’s, says dozens of bids have come in since Monday morning, including a $750 one on a prosthetic tail for Alan Cumming’s Nightcrawler character from 2003’s X-Men 2.
“It’s sad that (the collection) won’t be donated,” says Phillips. “But in this way, people that really respect Gord’s work — really, really respect it — will own it.”
The auction ends March 26.