Gozer Temple Prop Door (Scammed or not?) ***SOLVED***

[Andrea77]

I'm not sure but I think I may have been scammed by an eBay seller.

I won a Gozer temple prop door on eBay (Item number: 130371545817) from sudzy648.
(http://cgi.ebay.com/Ghostbusters-Gozer-Temple-Door-Movie-Prop_W0QQitemZ130371545817)

Item description:

For auction is a very rare finished and displayable studio casting of the miniature Gozer temple doors from Ghostbusters. This casting came directly from an ex-BOSS employee that worked for many years alongside Mark Stetson. The casting came from the original studio molds and is solid resin. The detail on this piece is exceptional and all of the sculpting is present. The paint finish resembles aged NYC copper/patina/bronze and is completely weathered with areas of green, grays, and soot. The paint is a very close match to the actual aged metallic miniature doors that were part of the Gozer temple model. The doors casting (there is no scribed part line separating each door) is 15 ½” wide X 20 ¾” tall X ½” thick.

He included a signed letter to back up the prop authenticity with a slightly different story from the one on the ebay item description. It says:

3/13/2010


Dear [my name]

My name is Dave [last name] and I was the original owner of the Ghostbusters Gozer
door that you recently purchased on Ebay. The door casting came from a mold
that was acquired during my time at Mattel Inc. back in 2002. It was painted back
then to match the studio scale model reference photos.

The actual door mold came from a friend of mine named Erich Stoh!
(http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0831128/) that brought it to Mattel so we could
create 1/6 backdrop display piece with some custom Ghostbusters figures. The
mold was created at Boss Film Studio before it shut down in 1997.

Best regards,
Dave [last name]

[signature]

Senior Project Designer, Mattel 1999-2004

I got it three days ago but when I smelled fresh paint coming from the partially opened box I had a bad feeling.

I trused the seller but the prop could to be one of the really poor white resin castings that occasionally pop out on eBay.
It is has poor definition and soft details (probably 2nd generation casting) and it's full of thousand of tiny bubbles on the door front and on on its back.

Here's some photos of the door:

What do you think? Is it a real (bad) casting or a recast? If so, what do you suggest me to do? Any help is appreciated.

By the way, isn't the original mould now owned by a RPF member?

 

[EvilRocketeer]

Re: Gozer Temple Prop Door (Scammed or not?)

http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=79390&highlight=gozer

try to resize your photos, they come up way too large and it makes it difficult to see..

I seen several of these online, and I am sure the majority are just recasts...

 

[Kerr Avon]

Re: Gozer Temple Prop Door (Scammed or not?)

Looks like a 2nd generation casting to me.

 

[exoray]

Re: Gozer Temple Prop Door (Scammed or not?)

Wow pretty rough casting, if the story is true that casting was done very sloppy, but the bright white color and fresh paint smell doesn't lend well to it being true...

There is no comparison to that casting and what Kerr offered, Kerr's are WAY crisper...

But it is interesting that it doesn't show some of the small signs of the mold starting to get old like Kerr's casting meaning it was cleaned up or recast from an earlier generation...

 

[Kerr Avon]

Re: Gozer Temple Prop Door (Scammed or not?)

Wow pretty rough casting, if the story is true that casting was done very sloppy, but the bright white color and fresh paint smell doesn't lend well to it being true...

There is no comparison to that casting and what Kerr offered, Kerr's are WAY crisper...

But it is interesting that it doesn't show some of the small signs of the mold starting to get old like Kerr's casting meaning it was cleaned up or recast from an earlier generation...

I'd guess it was recast from one of the first 10 sold around a year or so ago that were sold here. Oh well. :unsure

 

[Andrea77]

Re: Gozer Temple Prop Door (Scammed or not?)

try to resize your photos, they come up way too large and it makes it difficult to see..

I resized the images in the first post, for who want to see them in their original big format here's the direct links:

http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/2947/gozertempledoor01.jpg
http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/5245/gozertempledoor02.jpg
http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/1959/gozertempledoor03.jpg
http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/9441/gozertempledoor04.jpg
http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/6596/gozertempledoor05.jpg

In the first post I did a little mess, I wrote that the seller and who wrote the letter were the same person. I was wrong and I corrected it.

The seller is a girl whose name intials are W.S.. She wrote only S.S. as sender name on the address on the package and the not having a full name when I get it gave me a first really bad feeling.

The orignal prop door owner was Dave instead. I did a little research on internet and found that its singature on my letter is almost identical to the one on the letter visible here:
http://www.mybladerunner.com/tyrell-pyramid/2010/01/09/

Does someone of you guys own a LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) to contact him or should I be fine with what I found?

 

[GKvfx]

Re: Gozer Temple Prop Door (Scammed or not?)

God, castings of those things have been floating around for years. In fact, I'd be surprised if a former-BOSS employee didn't have one.

Having handled the restoration of the Gozer Temple for Richard before the recent sale, and having a casting of my own, I can tell you that the piece is sculpted. One of the BOSS guys (and I've forgotten his name now, dammit) took the reference photos of the set, gridded off a base with a layer of clay, and sculpted the thing. The surface detail is not the sharpest, simply because it was made out of clay and not chiseled out of stone.

Also complicating things is that they did refer to the Profiles auction photos.

My casting came from someone that I've known for years, that I know worked at BOSS. I can't remember if he said the casting he gave me came out of the same mold or if he remolded the master (or a casting). I'll measure it when I get home.

The air bubbles don't look hideous, but stuff like that never photographs well. The bubbles on the back are consistent with an open face casting (which mine is too). But it looks way to clean (white) to be anything that was casted just after Ghostbusters finished.

When we repaired the Gozer Temple, we actually didn't have to do anything to the door panels. They were still securely mounted. This is what it looked liked when we de-crated it:

The whole top section had come loose. Actually, it didn't come loose - it was loose. As in not secured to the lower section. The top section was made from 1/4" plate steel, to withstand the pyro explosions, and I guess they figured they didn't need anything other than the sheer weight of the top to keep it in place. I suspect it shifted in its crate when it was shipped back from a model exhibit in Paris back in 2005.

This is what the thing looked like from the back:

As you can see the panels are just secured in place (no backing plate) and made out of a gray resin. (Richard has one hanging on a wall at his office. All the crew signed one and made a frame for it. It's the same gray resin.) It is possible that the doors currently in the miniature were replaced along the way (due to the pyro that blows out of the top), but this thing was displayed at exhibits back in the 80's, so I would think if there were any replacement parts, they were surplus to the actual production.

Looking through the photos, I realize I didn't take any really good closeups of the doors for comparison's sake. A pox upon me...... One thing that I did notice is that the miniature doors skew more to the weathered gold color, while the full size doors were more a weather bronze color.

Sorry to derail your thread, Andrea. Looks to me like it is a new casting. Just don't know what master/mold they used.

Gene

 

[Firefoxm31]

Re: Gozer Temple Prop Door (Scammed or not?)

two things,
as far as the gentleman on that letter...I known Dave Martis for years and he's definitly not a recaster, so where he said they came from is most likely the source.. Second, chances or more likely that the pok-marked, irregular, pin holed castings are the real ones, then some super smooth finished pieces. It's a lookin good on film thing...just my two cents..been done that way in film for many years, Case in point... lol Vipers from BSG

Will

 

[d_osborn]

Re: Gozer Temple Prop Door (Scammed or not?)

gkvfx... COOL pics! thanks for posting!

 

[autoprops713]

Re: Gozer Temple Prop Door (Scammed or not?)

Yep, I poured that casting and in LA and still have the mold. Like someone else mentioned it is an open faced mold and we poured a bunch of these back when I was at Mattel. My friend wanted to sell this for me so I wanted to touch it up here and there and seal it with a matte clear coat. It was pretty scraped up and I would not want it sold in it's existing condition.

We had a few ex-SPFX guys working at Mattel and molds were coming in and out of the model shop daily. Eric worked in the male action group and brought in tons of molds and castings. This was from a mold he brought in.

But, why not contact the seller first about this instead of going straight to the RPF? Wendy or I would have contacted you directly with a full explanation or refund if desired.

Dave

edit: Yes, I sold you those Blade Runner castings also.They came from the same person.

 

[autoprops713]

Re: Gozer Temple Prop Door (Scammed or not?)

Sorry Kerr, wrong guess. Oh well :unsure

 

[Kerr Avon]

Re: Gozer Temple Prop Door (Scammed or not?)

Eh, I guessed 2nd generation, it was clearly legitimate and not some new sculpt.

But still a ****ty casting.

 

[autoprops713]

Re: Gozer Temple Prop Door (Scammed or not?)

Why would it be a new sculpt? I guess your mold and castings are better even though I've never seen one. Meh...you win. :thumbsup

 

[propologist]

Re: Gozer Temple Prop Door (Scammed or not?)

great looking model

 

[exoray]

Re: Gozer Temple Prop Door (Scammed or not?)

I guess your mold and castings are better even though I've never seen one. Meh...you win. :thumbsup

Yeah Kerr's are a lot crisper and don't have all the air bubbles...

I'll include one image of Kerr's casting for comparison, disregard the lint I just grabbed it off the shelf...

 

[autoprops713]

Re: Gozer Temple Prop Door (Scammed or not?)

Again, Andrea purchased this through ebay and never once contacted me or the seller concerning its quality or history. I wouldn't have included a letter (with my name) if I was trying to pull a fast one. The casting is what it is and frankly I have never looked that closely at mine and cared or noticed the air bubbbles. Yes, mine has them too. It was the paint work that I believe made this piece stand out. I'm sure Kerr's unpainted castings are awesome but again they have a seperate lineage. I wrote what I believed was true in that letter concerning the history of this piece and the mold.


Dave

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Re: Gozer Temple Prop Door (Scammed or not?)

What's the point of comparing these to Kerr's? Clearly they are from different molds and depending on what care was taken when either mold or castings from those were made would clearly cause for distinctions!?

My Kerr one came with resin gunks between the base of the left obelisk and the stairs, which this one bought on eBay doesn't have - it is cleaner in that area.

And usually when there are issues or concerns... it is always a good idea to let seller know.

 

[exoray]

Re: Gozer Temple Prop Door (Scammed or not?)

What's the point of comparing these to Kerr's? Clearly they are from different molds.

You asked and answered the question yourself... It's only clear to you since you had both references to compare, others don't...

 

[lingarn]

Re: Gozer Temple Prop Door (Scammed or not?)

But, why not contact the seller first about this instead of going straight to the RPF? Wendy or I would have contacted you directly with a full explanation or refund if desired.

I can't speak for the actual intentions in starting the post as I am not the one who did it, but it seems like this was an attempt to get a third-party analysis of the veracity of the claims made.

To turn your question on its head, if I thought that you might be trying to trick me, why would I contact you directly instead of asking around first?

You seem like a reasonable guy, so put yourself in his shoes. If you thought something you purchased was questionable but weren't sure, would you accuse the seller directly or take all the information you have and ask around?

 

[autoprops713]

Re: Gozer Temple Prop Door (Scammed or not?)

Understood. I guess my only issue was that it came off a bit strong with even my current job being posted. Then people jumping on board bringing up the quality of Avon's door.

I guess I also sold some Blade Runner pieces to this gentleman in the past (using my same name) and there were no issues. Just a bit taken back by this one that's all.

edit: I just checked his mybladerunner.com link....or maybe I didn't sell him the BR stuff???? Now I'm confused too.