paulrw
New Member
A friend and I clubbed together to buy this prop Chalice/False Grail at Auction at the begining of May. The prop was made by 'Bapty and Co', whic supplied prop and weapons to 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade' (1989).
The prop is crudely constructed and comprises of two component parts. An is probably a hastily mocked up prop used for production purposes.
The main chalice/‘False Grail’ is made of resin & fibreglass and has four glass beads with a blue/purple luster.
A wooden block has been glued into the bowl of the chalice and 2nd metal bowl has been screwed into place, nesting in the resin bowl of the chalice – meaning that the prop features a bowl within a bowl. The whole prop has then been painted using a thick gold paint. The screw in the metal bowl is loose and has resin embedded in the head, which also been painted with gold paint.
The detail on the chalice is crude but discernible. The base is divided into six segments featuring six ‘petals’ with poorly defined filigree rising upwards and narrowing towards the node of the Chalice. Each ‘petal’ features a simplistic human face. Two of the faces are missing as the thin resin has cracked and broken away, two are indistinguishable as faces, and two are discernible – with one being better than the other.
The ‘node’ of the chalice features defined diamond detail, and four flower heads into each is set a single blue/purple glass bead. The stem continues up to meet the bowl of the chalice. The resin bowl of the chalice measures approximately 75mm and there is some warping or distortion of the bowl, which looks like was caused at the time of manufacture by the exothermic reaction in the mould.
The each half of the resin bowl features the relief design of an Angel. The design is simple, a face/head with a halo and wings that encompass the bowl. At the top of the resin bowl is a filigree knotwork that extends around the full circumference of the chalice. Again, the detail is crude and degraded at various parts of the prop.
The metal bowl is completely featureless other than the screw in the bottom of the bowl affixing it to the resin chalice.
Given that the detail is so poor in places I suspect that this prop has been slush-cast from a plaster or fibreglass mould and finished by hand.
At this moment I believe this may be a 'production made' prop rather than a screen seen prop, the quality is such that it would probably not have been used in anything other than a long-shot.
The prop’s dimensions are as follows:
Resin and Fibreglass Chalice:
129mm in diameter at the base.
226mm tall from base to lip of metal bowl.
Metal Bowl:
93mm in diameter at top of metal bowl.
53mm deep.
The prop is crudely constructed and comprises of two component parts. An is probably a hastily mocked up prop used for production purposes.
The main chalice/‘False Grail’ is made of resin & fibreglass and has four glass beads with a blue/purple luster.
A wooden block has been glued into the bowl of the chalice and 2nd metal bowl has been screwed into place, nesting in the resin bowl of the chalice – meaning that the prop features a bowl within a bowl. The whole prop has then been painted using a thick gold paint. The screw in the metal bowl is loose and has resin embedded in the head, which also been painted with gold paint.
The detail on the chalice is crude but discernible. The base is divided into six segments featuring six ‘petals’ with poorly defined filigree rising upwards and narrowing towards the node of the Chalice. Each ‘petal’ features a simplistic human face. Two of the faces are missing as the thin resin has cracked and broken away, two are indistinguishable as faces, and two are discernible – with one being better than the other.
The ‘node’ of the chalice features defined diamond detail, and four flower heads into each is set a single blue/purple glass bead. The stem continues up to meet the bowl of the chalice. The resin bowl of the chalice measures approximately 75mm and there is some warping or distortion of the bowl, which looks like was caused at the time of manufacture by the exothermic reaction in the mould.
The each half of the resin bowl features the relief design of an Angel. The design is simple, a face/head with a halo and wings that encompass the bowl. At the top of the resin bowl is a filigree knotwork that extends around the full circumference of the chalice. Again, the detail is crude and degraded at various parts of the prop.
The metal bowl is completely featureless other than the screw in the bottom of the bowl affixing it to the resin chalice.
Given that the detail is so poor in places I suspect that this prop has been slush-cast from a plaster or fibreglass mould and finished by hand.
At this moment I believe this may be a 'production made' prop rather than a screen seen prop, the quality is such that it would probably not have been used in anything other than a long-shot.
The prop’s dimensions are as follows:
Resin and Fibreglass Chalice:
129mm in diameter at the base.
226mm tall from base to lip of metal bowl.
Metal Bowl:
93mm in diameter at top of metal bowl.
53mm deep.
