Fans in the U.K. will have a chance to view several historical Star Trek artifacts when Christie's South Kensington exhibits iconic highlights from its "Star Trek: The Collection" auction in October (related story).

The exhibit will be held for six days from Thursday, August 3, through Tuesday, August 8, at 85 Old Brompton Road in London. Doors are open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day except Sunday, when the hours are 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Entrance is free.

The Star Trek auction — being held in New York October 5-7 — is the first-ever studio-sponsored sale of Trek memorabilia from the never-before-released archives of Paramount, and will be taking place in celebration of this fall's 40th anniversary of the Star Trek franchise. It has already drawn significant worldwide interest, and will be one of Christie's largest undertakings ever, to include 1,000 lots and over 4,000 items spanning the entire history of Star Trek, from television to movies.

British-based enthusiasts will be able to bid for their favorite pieces through Christie's LIVE™, a real-time, multimedia auction experience. Christie's LIVE will allow collectors and enthusiasts around the world to enjoy the look, sound and feel of the Star Trek auction from their personal computer. This event will be the first major test of the service which is expected to revolutionize the auction industry.

To learn more about Christie's LIVE, visit the Christie's home page (look under "News & Events" for the press release, but to sign up, click on the red link that reads "Christie's Live™"). The mini-site devoted to the Trek auction is located at this link.

The Christie's tour was just in San Diego for Comic-Con (see photo gallery at left). After London, it will return to the U.S. for the Creation Star Trek convention in Las Vegas August 17-20. Then on the weekend of the actual 40th anniversary, September 8-10, the exhibit will be in Seattle at the Science Fiction Museum, in conjunction with the PlanetXpo convention there. Immediately afterwards, the Christie's Beverly Hills office (360 N. Camden Dr.) will host the exhibit from Sept. 12-16, then it's off to New York for its final display before the auction — Sept. 29-Oct. 4 at 20 Rockefeller Plaza.