Help with a Star Wars Death Star Prop

Your link doesn't work??

A few better photos would be helpful - like a pic looking straight down on it, showing the whole piece. The one pic you have is cut off, so we can't see an overall shape/detail of what you have. If what you have is square, my best guess is that it is a Death Star surface detail panel. The production for Star Wars & Jedi made a number of master panels, molded them cast them, even cut them up in quarters and mixed & matched these parts to create the Death Star surface. Page 44 of the Star Wars Sketchbook shows a Star Wars panel that has the same 3 raised ribs/fins that your piece has...

Thanks for letting me know. I thought i had linked the whole photo album. I will send links to the individual pics.
Bruce L.

Ok here all all of the pix!
Bruce Lieberman's Photos | Facebook
Bruce Lieberman's Photos | Facebook
Bruce Lieberman's Photos | Facebook
Bruce Lieberman's Photos | Facebook
Bruce Lieberman's Photos | Facebook
Bruce Lieberman's Photos | Facebook
Now that should be all of them!
Bruce L.

They look like ANH Death Star pieces. They could have been reused or recast for ROTJ.

You can see the one with the three tall wedges here:



The surface detail on the section next to the wedges looks spot on.

The other piece is more difficult to spot on the wide expanse of the Death Star surface, but it's probably there too. As ewokus said they match the concept drawing from Star Wars Sketchbook p44.

What are the dimensions? How big is it?

ILM didn't use fiberglass to make those Death Star surface pieces. I've personally seen and held at least 3 dozen pieces of varying scales from 3 inches square to 24 inches square and they were all made of that biscuit foam material. They are all solid, but the foam is very low density so it's quite light and easily damaged. The bottom should be flat across and unpainted.

Looks to me like someone made a mold of a real piece and laid it up in fiberglass. They even gave it a weathered paint job. Nice display, but not an authentic original. Sorry.

-chris

SeanB13 said:

---

What are the dimensions? How big is it?

It is 11 1/4 inches deep by 23 1/2 inches wide and 6-9 inches tall depending on what area is measured. I have all but given up on the fact that this was screen-used, but darn it, I would love to find out the story behind this piece. Someone did take a lot of care to produce this and I would love to know why. Since all pieces were made of biscuit foam, and it seems to be unique, I would doubt that it was created just to fool me. LOL. Could it have been a gift for someone, like the way they molded new Space Slug teeth and gave them out? Maybe a concept piece to show how the surface might look? I will continue my quest. Thanks to everyone who chimed in and I will let you know if anything else comes up. Until then, if anyone knows anyone, please show them the pics and find out what you can. I know someone out there knows something!
Bruce L.

blieber said:

---

it seemed to come from a reputable source who purchased it from Pinewood Studios

No part of ROTJ was shot at Pinewood Studios, and in any event, Death Star surface models were created and shot in California and were not needed for the UK portion of production.

Good luck in your search. Still nice pieces so enjoy them.

There are gorgeous custom one-offs made on therpf all the time, so the existence of a single fiberglass DS suface piece really isn't surprising to see. Also, your piece matches ANH Death Star pieces that I've seen, not ROTJ which tended to be mostly pretty flat.

As mentioned, the DS effects shots were done at ILM, not in the UK so the DS surface wouldn't have made its way there for any reason that I can think of. In fact, after ANH was done, the DS surface pieces ended up sitting in a storage unit and many were lost due to flood damage.

Pieces have been out in the marketplace almost since the beginning (as Fan Club giveaways) so there has been ample opportunity for copies to have been made.

The other thing I notice about your piece is that it just doesn't seem old. The top is very nicely painted and the black spray gives it an "aged" look on top, but that's just cosmetic. The underneath doesn't look old at all to me.

Plus, the UK is notorious for fakes and customs when it comes to SW items. In the SW toy world, there are fakes sold on eBay every week and in the prop world, you have the whole Elstree Props fiasco.

-chris

If some good is to come of this, and I'm being REALLY selfish here, Good reference of this set of tiles is really hard to come by and is great for my scaled down versions.
These are almost definitely from an original piece in terms of the details, but I agree that at least as far as ANH was concerned they were all biscuit foam.
However ANH tiles WERE used in ROTJ but I don't know if they were re-moulded or re-cast or just salvaged old tiles.
One thing that is curious is that this is two tiles from a set of four. All the sets were moulded as a four and it was the castings that were cut, but yours has obviously been re-moulded (by whoever) as a two. Like I say, maybe ILM did this for Jedi, but it is certainly unprecedented as far as I know.
Once again thanks for the great pics and any more close ups would be gratefully received!!!!!!
cheers
minifig

@ lonepigeon do you mind if I ask where those pictures are from?

I'm guessing they're cropped down from a larger image but it doesn't look familiar :o)

M

minifig said:

---

@ lonepigeon do you mind if I ask where those pictures are from?

I'm guessing they're cropped down from a larger image but it doesn't look familiar :o)

M

They're behind the scenes shots from the making of ANH from Lucasfilm.
Sorry, I can't share the full images.
One was this shot:
Login | Facebook
The other had Hamill in it.

ChrisG said:

---

Plus, the UK is notorious for fakes and customs when it comes to SW items. In the SW toy world, there are fakes sold on eBay every week and in the prop world, you have the whole Elstree Props fiasco.

-chris

Chris,

what do you mean with that "fiasco" ?

sven

HotDog said:

---

Chris,

what do you mean with that "fiasco" ?

It turned out the company was using the Elstree name to capitalize on its association with Star Wars, and to further exploit that association in presenting fakes as production-made items.

Ah ok, I did not know that. When did this turn out?
I remember a time, they had every week star wars items on ebay..
Is there a thread about this to read in this forum or anywhere else?
I would be interested tor read more about that.
Sven

You can read about the fake Luke ROTJ reveal sabers here:
Revisting the Elstree Props “Return of the Jedi” Star Wars Lightsabers: The $50,000 Question (Original or Replica?) : The Original Prop Blog – Jason DeBord's TV and Movie Prop Memorabilia Resource

More fake lightsabers:
Star Wars “Original Prototype Lightsabers from 1976 Meeting” : The Original Prop Blog – Jason DeBord's TV and Movie Prop Memorabilia Resource

Another “Original” Luke Skywalker Lightsaber Offered For Sale : The Original Prop Blog – Jason DeBord's TV and Movie Prop Memorabilia Resource

Fake biker scout blaster:
Fake ‘Star Wars’ Movie Prop Blaster Resurfaces on eBay with Elstree Props “Danziger Collection” Certificate of Authenticity : The Original Prop Blog – Jason DeBord's TV and Movie Prop Memorabilia Resource

Fake signatures on "Certificates of Authenticity":
“Who is N. Harrison?”: Update on Questions About Certificates of Authenticity Issued By Prior Owners of Elstree Props : The Original Prop Blog – Jason DeBord's TV and Movie Prop Memorabilia Resource


They've sold a lot of fake props over the last few years. Some of the props were even made by members here and were passed of as original (Elstree got them second hand - members were not involved in scams).

For example this one was made by RPF member Bobadebt:
Prop Watchlist: Star Wars Imperial Blaster : The Original Prop Blog – Jason DeBord's TV and Movie Prop Memorabilia Resource

I'm no DS panel expert, but since this is fiberglass and not biscuitfoam, and since it has a nicely detailed paint job, I'd wager that it is 'fan-made.' Of the few DS panels I've seen in person, none of them had a detailed weathering paint job like this. But it is a nice display piece.

You know I was going to make a long post here describing my long involvement with most of these stories in either being directly involved (as in the blaster casting) or being involved with helping to bring some of them to more public attention (such as the biker scout blaster and the Danziger signatures) but I will just leave it at basically you CAN NOT TRUST ANYTHING WITH A DANZIGER COA.
Why?
They are worthless - not honoured after change of ownership from Harrisons to Steve Wickenden.
Forged signatures.
Attached to both obvious and less obvious fakes (but fakes nonetheless).
In all honesty over the past few years I have put a lot of energy into highlighting these frauds and the problematic pieces that continue to crop up but it's all out there now if anyone cares to look.My appreciation to Chris for linking all the above articles and to Jason for his articles and archiving of the problems on the OPB.

thanks very much for all the links Chris
It really is a shame what they did
Sven

Also thanks from me to those who posted links and comments. I had heard bits and pieces of this sordid mess before but never read about it all in one go. Very glad I wasn't aggressively collecting back then. Sorry for those who gut stung. Hope to hear that some people took PH to court and won.