It would be a whole lot cheaper and easier to just pay the guy $1000 or whatever for immediate purchase and get it in hand. Might also see what else was in the storage unit.
If this is true, I am bit surprised these people put this on blast rather than just buying it.
Agree - it seems that $1000 would be cheap for a piece of TV history like this, given what movie and TV memorabilia can sell for.
. . . the person who listed the Enterprise model had purchased “an abandoned storage unit” and listed it on eBay, assuming it to be a replica.
Normally, buying a storage unit confers ownership of the contents to the buyer, unless it's contraband (e.g., illegal drugs) or is provably stolen property.
. . . For several years, the mini Enterprise sat happily on Roddenberry’s desk – until one day it was either lent out and vanished or was outright stolen.
IANAL, but unless someone comes up with old police records reporting the model as stolen, the current legitimate ownership of this model is at best uncertain - with the purchaser of the storage unit having a pretty strong claim. (Roddenberry isn't around any more, so we can't ask him.)