...some independent evidence of authenticity shows up, namely a screen shot or publicity still of a gun with a back end that matches the one you have.
As you state in this email, there are many things that are hand crafted regarding props and there will be variations. However, the logic of such doesn’t hold up as reasoning as to why the back of your gun doesn’t look like any other on-screen original. The fact that the one sold by Profiles in History is misshapen in the same way just means that they either came from the same mold, or one was molded and cast from the other. The fact that they showed up at about the same time doesn’t help either.
You also state that you “find it very difficult to believe some one would go thru all the trouble of faking a LIS laser pistol ”, but then state, “After all, $4,000 is a lot of money.” Therein you would find motive.
You also say that you never really questioned the gun's authenticity, which you probably should have.
Regarding comments by Mark Goddard and/or Marta Kristen, even if one of them said it looked right, or even said that it was right, anyone could understand that an actor that had brief interludes with a piece of resin 30 years before cannot be relied upon for expert testimony. That testimony must be left to photographic evidence.
Regarding your possible explanations that it was a hybrid, or modified to look like a hero, an alien gun, or a 4th season modification:
- That it is a hybrid is not explanatory.
- That it was modified to look like a hero does not make sense since they were already using stunt guns in close-up.
- That it was an alien gun is not explanatory since when any guns were reused for aliens, they were painted or redressed so they would not look like a Robinson gun.
- That it was modified for a pending 4th season is not plausible as why would they go back to the look of the first season gun once it was retired?
What I’m getting from this is an unsubstantiated story about the origin that you heard second hand, that you thought the gun was authentic because you thought no one would go through the trouble to fake it and the recollections of an actor 30 years removed.
Since you are looking to sell this, it would probably prove fruitful if you could uncover a screen cap or publicity shot that shows the features that your gun has, or at the very least, the elongated back.