So something interesting happened to me today.
I drove to a nearby small mountain town to do my Christmas shopping, and ended up stopping in at the local Camera Museum. I've popped in before looking for cheap Pelican cases, but today I decided to pay the five dollars and take the tour. To give you an idea, it's a small, single room filled to the brim with dusty old cameras ... a veritable treasure trove to someone like me. The curator is a character ... an older guy, obviously quite passionate about his collection, and excited to have a younger person like myself sharing a genuine interest in his passion (I consider myself something of a film preservationist as well). Oh, and his collection is really impressive. Some of the items that stuck out the most to me were John Wilkes Booth's family photo album (literally, from his family home), original photos (not dupes) of Robert E. Lee, all kinds of daguerreotype, tin types, early 3D cameras from the 1800's, you name it. I should have figured that he would have a Graflex 3 cell, but I still got that burst of adrenaline when I saw it standing up in a case to my left as he was talking to me about the evolution of the Leica. I pointed to it and simply said "Graflex 3-Cell". He then sort of rolled his eyes and asked me if I knew what was special about that flash. I said, "Well yeah ... Luke's lightsaber". He looked back at me and said, "No, what's special about THAT Graflex?". I shrugged, and he proceeded to tell me that this Graflex (which was completely unconverted, mind you) was given to him by his friend, George Lucas, and that it was THE lightsaber. Not a single part of me believed him, until he told me that he had the paperwork to prove it. I decided to nerd out on him a bit, and brought up the fact that there were many Graflex flashes purchased for ANH, and that this one was totally unconverted (no indication that grips had ever been adhered, no bubble strip, or d-ring or even a hole). He then told me that this was the original "prototype" that they used, before they decided to add the other parts. It seemed to me that he was being genuine, but wasn't entirely sure about what he had. Very skeptical, I asked him if I could take a look at it. Keep in mind, that this flash was NOT a part of the tour, and if I hadn't pointed it out, he probably wouldn't have even said anything about it. He looked at me skeptically for a moment, but let me hold it. Folmer Graflex, WITH patent number, what appears to be a thin base ring, and the correct long-knurled red button. He let me snap a few photos, but I decided not to press my luck and ask to see the paperwork (I didn't want him to know that I was more excited about this flash than the rest of the museum). So my question is, does this make any kind of sense to you guys? Does anybody have info about unconverted flashes being used on set or in the film? I really did not get the vibe that this guy was bullsh***ing me, and I think that I believe his claim that Lucas gave it to him (this guy had WAY more objectively and historically significant items in his collection than a sci-fi prop), but I do know that there are several sabers out there that "came from Lucas, or Kurtz, etc."
What do you guys think? By my reasoning, it is at least possible that this Graflex was fom the same batch purchased for the film, and that it may have something to tell us about the screen-used hero. Here are those photos ... At the very least, I saw a beautiful Graflex specimen in the wild today, so I'm happy =)
