Best Raiders Fertility Idol.. Questions!

[JoshuaV]

The idol in the book is in the Ranch Main House. The only idol currently in the Archive building is the 'eye' version but sadly the restoration was pretty poor.

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Gah…..what happened? Plating must have went far south during the restoration, poor thing. I remember seeing a thread here a while ago about the story behind the plating of the hero idol and what it went through. Did this happen during the Hata exhibit/book period?

Also, mention of the book drove me nuts so I drove over to my place, disinfected every inch and the book and took some higher quality photos of the idol. Its only one image of the idol that's featured, which is used again on the back cover. Sure enough, there's small bubble dimples along the chin and pooling in some areas indicative of spray paint. Also I was just curious if a stray idol image was somewhere else in the book, no dice. Though side plot: The book heavily features the grail diary for anyone doing their own grail replicas.

 

[The 48th Ronin]

The idol in the book is in the Ranch Main House.

Or one like it is. According to Don Bies, the one in the book is the one gifted to Mr. Hata:

"The Lucasfilm Archive book that has been published was actually the exhibit catalog, written originally in Japanese. Since the two idols, C-3P0 and the Ark were out being VM'd (vacuum metalized) at the time, we couldn't photograph them for the catalog. Hence, there is no photo of 3P0 in the book; a photo of the second damaged, non-restored Ark; and a photo of a casting of the Idol spray painted gold. This Idol was actually a present to Mr. Hata for organizing the exhibit."

 

[The 48th Ronin]

Did this happen during the Hata exhibit/book period?

Yes, several pieces were "restored" for the exhibit. That's how the abomination of the Luke "V3" lightsaber came to be.

 

[parfaitelumiere]

What about the actual Relicmaker, seems it's the best now?

 

[KramStaar]

What about the actual Relicmaker, seems it's the best now?

Relicmaker's idol is terrific (as are all his props of which I have quite a few). The only reservation I have is with the glass eye version because the pupils are far too large and the iris doesn't sit quite right in the socket for me.

 

[parfaitelumiere]

Is it the only one cast from bronze?

 

[JoeG]

I think the Hand-Schaub version was also a bronze cast.

 

[matty matt]

This is the RelicMaker idol I just got. It didn’t come with eyes so I had to get my own and install them. If we ever find eyes with the correct size pupils I can replace them, but I’m not really worried about that. It’s a beautiful piece and far exceeded my expectations.

 

[Jamesfett]

Can I ask how you wethered it and how you installed the eyes? Relickmakers way was permanent more or less for the eyes.

Thanks

 

[matty matt]

Can I ask how you wethered it and how you installed the eyes? Relickmakers way was permanent more or less for the eyes.

Thanks

He recently got rid of some from his first run without eyes. I bought my own eyes and installed them through the small hole in the bottom. The weathering is pretty much just Dullcote randomly sponged on, with a little bit of grime here and there.

 

[agent5]

Relicmaker's idol is terrific (as are all his props of which I have quite a few). The only reservation I have is with the glass eye version because the pupils are far too large and the iris doesn't sit quite right in the socket for me.

Correct. The only one with real eyes that is accurate is from Restaurajones, but he hasn't yet finished it as far as I can tell.

 

[j_holtslander]

I recently picked up this one from DarkMatterProps on Etsy and I’m quite happy with it. It doesn’t have the glass eyes though but the seller says he hopes to add that version in about a year or so.

 

[cjunco1937]

This may be a bit elementary of a question but are the little black dots on the eyes of the Belloq version (making them look like they have pupils) actually painted on or are they just a reflection. Or did the screen prop actually have sculpted pupils? I have a RM Belloq version. It has no pupils (sculpted or painted). I have found that, depending on the angle, the reflection makes those black “pupils” appear sometimes.

 

[Indy Magnoli]

No original prop idols with drilled pupils have been seen, so it's always been surmised that the pupils were painted on to give the eyes more depth and to more closely match the hero idol with the realistic eyes.

 

[cjunco1937]

Thx. And it’s been confirmed that the dots are painted and not a reflection? That is, from BTS pics or such?

 

[Indy Magnoli]

I don't believe any firm confirmation exists... only conjecture. Maybe KramStaar has seen something at the Archives that I'm not remembering...

 

[cjunco1937]

Thanks

 

[KramStaar]

I don't believe any firm confirmation exists... only conjecture. Maybe KramStaar has seen something at the Archives that I'm not remembering...

Although both of the idol versions are at the ranch (between the main house and the archive building), I have never seen one with the painted dots. It should be remembered that there has been restoration work done along the way so any evidence of paint on any of them has probably been erased long ago.

M

 

[cjunco1937]

Although both of the idol versions are at the ranch (between the main house and the archive building), I have never seen one with the painted dots. It should be remembered that there has been restoration work done along the way so any evidence of paint on any of them has probably been erased long ago.

M

Thx!

 

[cjunco1937]

found these pics of the Belloq. Hard to argue that the “dots” have not been painted on there.