After decades lost, Star Trek’s original Enterprise model may have been found

[Karlston]

The listing went down quickly, and Roddenberry's son is trying to track it down.

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  This mysterious model appeared on eBay with little fanfare.

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  The model appeared in this promotional image with Roddenberry...

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  ...and in this one with William Shatner...

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  ...and in this one with Leonard Nimoy, among many others.

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The first model of the USS Enterprise ever used in shooting the original Star Trek series may have surfaced after going missing decades ago.

 

An eBay listing of a 3-foot model of the Enterprise appeared early last week and named a starting bid of $1,000. The listing was removed hours after it went up after enthusiasts on social media and forums discovered it and pieced together what it likely was. Some of those enthusiasts said in the private Facebook group "Star Trek Prop Makers & Collectors" that they had contacted the seller suggesting it be returned to its rightful owners, which many believe to be the estate of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry.

On Thursday evening, Rod Roddenberry, son of Gene Roddenberry and steward of the Roddenberry estate, shared a message on Facebook expressing a desire to get in touch with the seller to see about the model's return. That post has since become inaccessible, but a nearly identical one appeared on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Friday afternoon. He wrote:

 

Super excited someone discovered this treasure! It would mean a lot to talk with whomever is selling/in possession of the 3' Enterprise. Appreciate anyone who can put me in touch, and connect us! Engage!

Ars reached out to the Roddenberry estate but was not given a public comment. We also contacted the eBay seller who listed the model, but they declined to identify themselves or explain how they came to acquire it.

 

"All I can say is that it’s out of my hands and with a proper team," they wrote. They declined to elaborate further.

 

Even though the future fate of the model is uncertain, the username for the account and its other listings suggest that it specializes in selling artifacts found in storage lockers that end up without an owner, either due to failure to pay, abandonment, or death, perhaps giving a hint as to how the model was found.

 

At first, there was a lot of speculation about whether this was the genuine, long-lost model—and all evidence points to this being an authentic find.

The model mystery

Enthusiasts have done extensive research into this and other props used in the series, documenting details about them, the stories behind them, and where they have ended up over the years.

 

The model was made by prop-maker Richard Datin Jr under the direction of Gene Roddenberry in the preproduction phase of the series before it even had a full series order. It preceded an 11-foot model that was used for most of the shots in the series. However, the 3-footer was used for the opening credits sequence and all but one of the shots of the Enterprise in the series' pilot, because the 11-foot version was not ready in time for shooting. It was also used sporadically in other shots in later episodes, including one where it actually acted as a model of the Enterprise sitting on a table.

 

Historians, like model-maker David Shaw, who wrote a detailed history of the lost 3-foot model, believe that for at least a time, the model sat on Roddenberry's desk and was his property. They believe Roddenberry loaned it to people working on the production of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, but it was never returned. There is even a record of Roddenberry writing to contacts at the production house inquiring to get it back to no avail.

In the listing, the seller included more than a dozen images of a wooden model on a stand. The model appeared aged and seemed to have water damage and other imperfections. One of the images showed a ruler next to the model, showing it to be around 3 feet long, or just under a meter. A business card with the name Richard C. Datin, Jr. was taped to the stand. The listing had the following copy:

 

This ship is a custom made spaceship by Richard Datin jr

 

Made by wood and hand painted

 

It’s a 1 in 1 very rare and very old

 

It will have its aging like wooden cracks and sticker pealing off

 

Very nice for a collection

The mention of Datin Jr allowed enthusiasts who were deeply familiar with Star Trek's history to find and identify it.

 

A thread titled "RED ALERT Lost 3 ft TOS Enterprise found????" on the RPF costume and prop-maker community forum ran over the past week with pages of analysis, including insights from some of the most knowledgeable Star Trek prop enthusiasts.

 

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For example, portions of the ship's saucer are flat—something special in the early model that went missing—and the back of the ship's nacelles also has a detail seen in the lost model. The shuttle bay door piece is missing from the original model in one of its final appearances on the show—and the same piece is missing in the model in the eBay listing, too. Individuals compared photos of the grain of the original model's wooden stand to that of the one in the listing, finding telling similarities. Old damage on the saucer and the deflector dish was found to match on both models, too.

 

The list goes on. Datin's business card also looks authentic, but it includes the only detail that doesn't make sense: A vague note about voltage is written by hand on the card, but the original model is believed to have had no electrical components. That said, the 3-foot model in question was used as the basis and reference for the larger 11-foot model that was used for most of the other shots in the series (the one that now famously sits in the Smithsonian), so it has been posited that these may have been notes for the production of the 11-footer.

 

As the historians, collectors, and model-makers noted repeatedly in the thread and social media platforms, this is very likely the long-lost model, and if it's not, it's one of the best fakes ever made. Here's hoping we see it turn up again soon.

 

Listing image by eBay

 

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