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Author Topic: Original Hollywood Squares set up for auction  (Read 2931 times)

WhammyPower

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Original Hollywood Squares set up for auction
« on: October 11, 2025, 08:14:39 AM »
Anybody got an extra quarter million or more burning a hole in their pocket?

https://goldin.co/item/hollywood-squares-setwv4u0

EDIT: Elsewhere in this auction are a few other things, including the Hole in One windmill and the yellow COVID IUFB podium from Price.
« Last Edit: October 11, 2025, 08:31:56 AM by WhammyPower »

TimK2003

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Re: Original Hollywood Squares set up for auction
« Reply #1 on: October 11, 2025, 10:26:09 AM »
Anybody got an extra quarter million or more burning a hole in their pocket?

https://goldin.co/item/hollywood-squares-setwv4u0

EDIT: Elsewhere in this auction are a few other things, including the Hole in One windmill and the yellow COVID IUFB podium from Price.

Although the linked picture shows the original NBC Marshall set, the other photos indicate that it's actually the Bergeron set from the turn of the century.

Buyer Beware!

Matt Ottinger

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Re: Original Hollywood Squares set up for auction
« Reply #2 on: October 12, 2025, 12:39:59 PM »
This is weird.  What this piece specifically is, which the auction materials acknowledge deep in the descriptions, is a replica of the original set which was used for a tribute to Peter Marshall last November.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1033555192118617&set=pcb.1033561178784685

Now the seller is apparently saying that this replica set was build on the structure of a still-existing Tom Bergeron grid.  That may very well be true.  However, there is nothing visible that would suggest in any way that it's the Bergeron set.  It is clearly designed to look like the original version.  Meanwhile, the auction is throwing around words like "original" "iconic" and "vintage," words which are going to confuse a lot of people.

Hard to say how much this matters.  Some rich guy is going to get a kick out of having this crazy conversation piece in his rumpus room with a 20-foot-high ceiling.  But the whole listing strikes me as at best sloppy, and at worse deliberately misleading.
This has been another installment of Matt Ottinger's Masters of the Obvious.
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TimK2003

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Re: Original Hollywood Squares set up for auction
« Reply #3 on: October 12, 2025, 02:17:02 PM »
This is weird.  What this piece specifically is, which the auction materials acknowledge deep in the descriptions, is a replica of the original set which was used for a tribute to Peter Marshall last November.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1033555192118617&set=pcb.1033561178784685

Now the seller is apparently saying that this replica set was build on the structure of a still-existing Tom Bergeron grid.  That may very well be true.  However, there is nothing visible that would suggest in any way that it's the Bergeron set.  It is clearly designed to look like the original version.  Meanwhile, the auction is throwing around words like "original" "iconic" and "vintage," words which are going to confuse a lot of people.

Hard to say how much this matters.  Some rich guy is going to get a kick out of having this crazy conversation piece in his rumpus room with a 20-foot-high ceiling.  But the whole listing strikes me as at best sloppy, and at worse deliberately misleading.

When I saw the up-close singular desk photo, the compact X/O indicator clearly looked like it came from the Bergerson set.  I completely forgot about the set created for the more recent memorial.

« Last Edit: October 12, 2025, 10:15:50 PM by TimK2003 »

cliffhanger285

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Re: Original Hollywood Squares set up for auction
« Reply #4 on: October 12, 2025, 03:49:04 PM »
Now the seller is apparently saying that this replica set was build on the structure of a still-existing Tom Bergeron grid.  That may very well be true.  However, there is nothing visible that would suggest in any way that it's the Bergeron set.  It is clearly designed to look like the original version.

It is indeed the squares from the Bergeron set. The Marshall-era nameplates and X/O lights are wooden overlays made for the memorial service that cover the actual lights/electronics.

Someone also told me that they were originally built/used for the Davidson version but I have no idea how true it is.

MSTieScott

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Re: Original Hollywood Squares set up for auction
« Reply #5 on: October 12, 2025, 08:08:03 PM »
Now the seller is apparently saying that this replica set was build on the structure of a still-existing Tom Bergeron grid.  That may very well be true.

It is. The main picture depicts how the grid was altered for the Peter Marshall tribute (although Charley Weaver's nameplate is in the wrong place in the auction picture); the second picture shows what the upper middle square presently looks like without the Marshall-era facade on it, and that's clearly the Bergeron-era set. (The second picture also shows what the upper middle square looks like when it's on the ground -- the top row was removable to get the grid in and out of the studio.) The third picture shows that the microphones appear to be fake.

I agree that "This particular vintage set was part of the original NBC era" in the listing's description is an outright falsehood, but the letter of provenance in the fourth and fifth pictures accurately describes exactly which set this is. I would hope anyone preparing to spend $250,000 on a used game show set would do their due diligence and at least read that letter to confirm exactly what they're purchasing, but I'm not the kind of guy who has $250,000 to spend on used game show sets, so what do I know.

Truthfully, I'll be surprised if it sells. I wonder what they're planning to do with it if no one bids.

Nick

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Re: Original Hollywood Squares set up for auction
« Reply #6 on: October 12, 2025, 08:27:36 PM »
I wonder what they're planning to do with it if no one bids.

There's a place in upstate New York that'd be most appropriate.
It was a golden age of daytime network television... Game Shows... Hosted by people who actually knew that the game was the star... And I wish it was still that way - both that game shows were on all morning and that they were hosted by actual game show hosts. - Bob Purse, Inches Per Second

Joe Mello

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Re: Original Hollywood Squares set up for auction
« Reply #7 on: October 12, 2025, 08:35:16 PM »
I wonder what they're planning to do with it if no one bids.

There's a place in upstate New York that'd be most appropriate.
The only time where "moved to a place upstate" is a positive outcome for old things.
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jrjgames

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Re: Original Hollywood Squares set up for auction
« Reply #8 on: October 12, 2025, 10:53:27 PM »
This was not built for Peter's memorial. It is the Tom set pulled out of storage last minute!

This is weird.  What this piece specifically is, which the auction materials acknowledge deep in the descriptions, is a replica of the original set which was used for a tribute to Peter Marshall last November.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1033555192118617&set=pcb.1033561178784685

Now the seller is apparently saying that this replica set was build on the structure of a still-existing Tom Bergeron grid.  That may very well be true.  However, there is nothing visible that would suggest in any way that it's the Bergeron set.  It is clearly designed to look like the original version.  Meanwhile, the auction is throwing around words like "original" "iconic" and "vintage," words which are going to confuse a lot of people.

Hard to say how much this matters.  Some rich guy is going to get a kick out of having this crazy conversation piece in his rumpus room with a 20-foot-high ceiling.  But the whole listing strikes me as at best sloppy, and at worse deliberately misleading.

jrjgames

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Re: Original Hollywood Squares set up for auction
« Reply #9 on: October 12, 2025, 10:55:11 PM »
https://youtu.be/DAxhIG0LxA8?si=y7JA-hDMybH6vaeO



This is weird.  What this piece specifically is, which the auction materials acknowledge deep in the descriptions, is a replica of the original set which was used for a tribute to Peter Marshall last November.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1033555192118617&set=pcb.1033561178784685

Now the seller is apparently saying that this replica set was build on the structure of a still-existing Tom Bergeron grid.  That may very well be true.  However, there is nothing visible that would suggest in any way that it's the Bergeron set.  It is clearly designed to look like the original version.  Meanwhile, the auction is throwing around words like "original" "iconic" and "vintage," words which are going to confuse a lot of people.

Hard to say how much this matters.  Some rich guy is going to get a kick out of having this crazy conversation piece in his rumpus room with a 20-foot-high ceiling.  But the whole listing strikes me as at best sloppy, and at worse deliberately misleading.

Matt Ottinger

  • Member
  • Posts: 13327
This has been another installment of Matt Ottinger's Masters of the Obvious.
Stay tuned for all the obsessive-compulsive fun of Words Have Meanings.