ANH Obi Wan Kenobi saber defined

[corliss1]

I don't believe they took it apart - it's pretty clear, at least to me, they were glued/brazed/epoxied/somethinged together, as I really doubt they went to the trouble of machining adapters and putting it together on a threaded rod like we do for our parts. We only do that because they are valuable now.

 

[thd9791]

We also have lots of evidence of other lightsaber props that were glued and screwed together that never got disassembled. Even things that were easy to un-do were avoided and they just built around them.

 

[Eruonen]

Honestly I think the two most likely options are that 1) It’s in a private collection (and someone might have inherited it and not even know it), and 2) It got thrown in the trash.

Option two being the mostly likely if the grenade-Bapty connection is real, which is not very easy to prove considering that ‘BAP’ is circumstantial at best.

 

[James Kenobi 1138]

It’s possible I suppose the grenade was the first part of the saber since we see it in the photos with those early flashlight sabers. Maybe the grenade was purchased from Bapty and not rented so it didn’t need to be returned. The balance pipe could have come in second with the scrap aircraft junk, the Graflex clamp third, and the booster and sink knob added last.

Maybe the booster was purchased also and the saber was epoxied together over a thick wooden dowel and the parts couldn’t be separated. I would think if that was the case then it was either tossed or someone has it… somewhere…

 

[Obi1Kenobi]

Regarding the theory about tape around the windvane, I have two things to say...

1) If there is tape there, perhaps it is this type of tape that is used throughout the entertainment industry: Gaffers Tape. This modern example comes in several dark colors, including brown and black.

2) If I'm not mistaken, you can't really see the letters on the windvane in the photo below either. Could it have tape on it? Or was it just missing lettering? How common is it to find these antique grenades without lettering around the windvane? Can the grenade in this photo be ruled-in or ruled-out as one used on the on-screen prop(s)?

 

[thd9791]

Regarding the theory about tape around the windvane, I have two things to say...

1) If there is tape there, perhaps it is this type of tape that is used throughout the entertainment industry: Gaffers Tape. This modern example comes in several dark colors, including brown and black.

2) If I'm not mistaken, you can't really see the letters on the windvane in the photo below either. Could it have tape on it? Or was it just missing lettering? How common is it to find these antique grenades without lettering around the windvane? Can the grenade in this photo be ruled-in or ruled-out as one used on the on-screen prop(s)?
View attachment 1628587

Unless I’m mistaken, the last character on the tag is a British pound, scrawled by hand

 

[thd9791]

Oh wait it’s backwards, wtf

 

[scarf man]

Oh wait it’s backwards, wtf

Sloppy 2 or 3 imo.
The windvane sleeve doesn’t look like it has the right profile, and the top ring of the frag body has a hitherto unseen cut. I would rule out this pictured grenade as the Chronicles saber’s grenade, I’m less sure that it mightn’t be the Tunisia saber’s grenade.

 

[onderon]

Unless I’m mistaken, the last character on the tag is a British pound, scrawled by hand

It says
BAP
19/12

As a date

 

[scarf man]

It’s possible I suppose the grenade was the first part of the saber since we see it in the photos with those early flashlight sabers.

James could you post up that pic in this thread please? I went digging for it but came up with bupkis.

 

[thd9791]

From Original Prop Blog

And for good measure, some things I had in that folder

 

[scarf man]

Thanks thd9791, I just wanted a little context for the conversation but the extras are wonderful.

 

[Obi1Kenobi]

It says
BAP
19/12

As a date

After seeing the "January 16th, 1976" production document posted by thd9791 a little after this, I'm even more convinced that you are correct about "19/12" being a date. "December 19th, 1975" would very plausibly fit the timeline for when they were likely acquiring parts for lightsaber props.

 

[thd9791]

I was always under the impression these photos were from that meeting. Unless that grenade was dated when it was inventoried as a prototype part before the meeting.. I’m doubtful about the date still

 

[James Kenobi 1138]

I always thought the sticker on the grenade was just an inventory sticker, either from wherever they bought it and/or from where they rented it.

 

[scarf man]

I find it a bit odd that they left the sticker on for the photo, there may be a clue in that, or maybe not. To me it doesn’t seem that the sticker was all that important for the photographer to capture, yet it’s there none the less.

 

[marker2037]

I proposed this question in the DaveP interest thread as well, but would like to present it here as well.

In regards to the windvane lettering and whether or not tape or paint or some other substance was covering the lettering: does anyone think that if what people see as tape is indeed tape, could it have specifically been added postproduction for those photos so that no discernible markings could be identified (by people like us)?

I just find it highly suspect that they would bother to cover the markings for shooting when those markings would be impossible to see on camera. Personally, I don't believe there is anything at all trying to cover any lettering, at least not during filming. I think the original stamping was either just super faint from when it was manufactured or time/wear and tear had worn down the brass to the point where you could barely make out any markings to begin with. From everything I see in photos, on film, etc. the color of the windvane is consistently the same weathered brass up and down.

 

[thd9791]

I proposed this question in the DaveP interest thread as well, but would like to present it here as well.

In regards to the windvane lettering and whether or not tape or paint or some other substance was covering the lettering: does anyone think that if what people see as tape is indeed tape, could it have specifically been added postproduction for those photos so that no discernible markings could be identified (by people like us)?

I just find it highly suspect that they would bother to cover the markings for shooting when those markings would be impossible to see on camera. Personally, I don't believe there is anything at all trying to cover any lettering, at least not during filming. I think the original stamping was either just super faint from when it was manufactured or time/wear and tear had worn down the brass to the point where you could barely make out any markings to begin with. From everything I see in photos, on film, etc. the color of the windvane is consistently the same weathered brass up and down.

Good questions. Thinking as I type here…

Some of these photos were during the prototyping phase, and I can’t pick out any letting there either.

They DID seem to cover lettering on the clamps of both hero graflex lightsabers and the clamp on this one. I’ve never been able to pick this out 100% because the Obi wan stuff covered tarnish and the Luke is always drowned out by a flash. Is it visible in the promo shots?

 

[v312]

I lean more towards the idea that the stamping is just very faint or totally missing. But if it it was masked I'd bet it was not done for the shots that later appeared in the chronicles. They don't look at all like promo shots but maybe made for continuity purposes that later were published because nothing else was available.

Besides GRAFLEX is very visible on the clamp and even the markings on the transistors are to some extend, so what would be the purpose of covering just the wind vane for these shots.

 

[marker2037]

Good questions. Thinking as I type here…

Some of these photos were during the prototyping phase, and I can’t pick out any letting there either.

They DID seem to cover lettering on the clamps of both hero graflex lightsabers and the clamp on this one. I’ve never been able to pick this out 100% because the Obi wan stuff covered tarnish and the Luke is always drowned out by a flash. Is it visible in the promo shots?

From what I know, Luke's ANH Graflex clamp stamping wasn't covered up with anything, that was only present on the ESB version. I also don't see anything covering up the clamp for Obi-Wan's either, but it's really impossible to tell in anything but the Chronicles pictures. I will say that if they did or did not cover up writing on one lightsaber prop, they sure as heck would have stayed consistent and done all the same way I would think.