Monday 8 November 2010

Bonhams costume sales - previous auctions

As well as the auctions I have been to over the past couple of years, I have done a little digging back and found some further Sixth Doctor items from three sales between 2005 and 2008.


Lot 611
'Dr. Who': The Master's 'tissue compression eliminator' (miniaturising gun), the prop in black-painted brass with electric wiring, as used by Anthony Ainley throughout the 1980s in his portrayal of The Doctor's nemesis, 23cm (9in) long.

Sold for £1,440

Lot 619
'Dr. Who': a baby dinosaur in jar,
moulded and painted foam, from the 1985 episode, 'The Mark Of The Rani', 36cm (14in) high

Sold for £780

Lot 622
'Dr. Who': a Tardis roundel,
fibreglass, with traces of black and grey paint, indicating use in the Tardis of both The Doctor and The Master, believed to be the last surviving example from the original Tardis, 55cm (21½in) diameter

Estimate: £500 - 700

Lot 629
'Dr. Who': a cape worn by Colin Baker,
two-tone blue wool with gold-coloured braid and fasteners, as seen in the 1985 episode 'Revelation Of The Daleks'

Lot Notice
Amendment: Please note that this lot has a revises estimate of £1,000 to £1,200


Sold for £1,800

Friday 5 November 2010

Sixth Doctor - Costume Index


Following their critique of Jon Pertwee’s costumes in the Costumes Index on my Third Doctor Costume Blog, as well as the Eleventh Doctor Costume IndexTrine-E and Zu-Zana flounced off in disgust when The Sixth Doctor made his costume choice.

So in their absence, here is my story-by-story breakdown of the combinations and variations of his costumes over his tenure as The Doctor.

Initially I didn’t think they’d be much to say about each story, but even this has surprised me. I’ve also included some pointers when unusual of rarely seen parts of his costume are visible.
NB. this breakdown covers as-seen costumes, and makes no distinction between multiple copies of garments made, or renewed costumes made to replace worn out pieces.

Monday 1 November 2010

Ultimate Six Frock Coat - the red tartan

After some early luck with matching the easier fabrics on the coat, I’m now gonna try and set myself a task each month of preparing one of the more difficult ones.
This will keep the project moving forward.

First up, the Red Tartan, fabric 1 on my Six Frock Coat Breakdown.
Fabric 1
What is Tartan?
Through centuries of Celtic tradition, different tartan patterns came to identify different districts and later specific clans. The more complex and colourful the tartan was, the more wealth or power was inferred in its owner. These days it has become more about Scottish heritage, with people seeking to identify their clan or family tartan as symbol of Scottish national identity.
As a result a near endless resource of historic and contemporary designs has been documented and perpetuated to this day.
Being a tartan it should, in theory, be easy to track down, as the designs for these fabrics have been handed down from generation to generation. The book The Scottish Clans And Their Tartans (see left, also click the title to download a PDF of the book) documents a lot of the classic tartans.  But having all tartans documented is something of a double edged sword, as once you start looking beyond the handful readily stocked by fabric shops, there are literally thousands of designs, all subtly different from each other, with brand new designs being added all the time.