This thread reminds me a bit of the ones (here and elsewhere) many years back in which the authenticity of the TOS bridge chair was questioned; I saw that as late as 10 years after it sold to Paul Allen, some were still questioning it (maybe some still do). That chair had been modified; specifically the plexiglass plate / buttons / domes on the right side had been replaced with a narrow row of Heatherington switches, possibly ones from a bridge station (perhaps Spock's). It had also been repainted somewhat inaccurately. The genuine right-side switches and buttons later turned up elsewhere, and those were authenticated by a very credible source. The explanation I tend to believe is that the chair was broken up, recovered from the trashheap (minus the right side controls), and later repaired as best was possible.
I have no dog in this fight, don't have any specific knowledge of the phaser props, and am not in a position to even bid on it. Not saying I 100% believe it is a real cobbled-together (from a real P1 and a real P2 pistol body) screen-used phaser, but it occurs to me that some inaccurate details
could mean, as was the case with the bridge chair, that repairs were made / some parts were replaced at some point in the last 50+ years. Absent some undeniable proof that it's a fake, this thread is likely to continue to largely be a Professor Gumby exercise ("Well, I think..."). Enjoy!
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