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Help with a Star Wars Death Star Prop

B

blieber

New Member
Hi. My name is Bruce Lieberman and I am asking for some expert help. I purchased some time ago a piece that was purported to be a screen seen ROTJ Death Star piece. I was attracted to it because of its size and the fact that it seemed to come from a reputable source who purchased it from Pinewood Studios. I won't use name here because I had problems with that once before, but I will respond privately to any one who is interested. Anyway, I have contacted many people including Prop Store of London Folks, Gus Lopez and a few others and no one seems to be able to tell me just what this is.
It is made of fiberglass and is very detailed. Here is a link to the photos:
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If someone wants to see the photos and does not have a facebook account, message me and I will send them out.

If anyone can help me with this it would be much appreciated. I am hoping it has some connection, maybe a prototype piece or something made for the film even if it is not screen used. Thanks much in advance for your collective expert advice.
Bruce
 
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A few better photos would be helpful - like a pic looking straight down on it, showing the whole piece. The one pic you have is cut off, so we can't see an overall shape/detail of what you have. If what you have is square, my best guess is that it is a Death Star surface detail panel. The production for Star Wars & Jedi made a number of master panels, molded them cast them, even cut them up in quarters and mixed & matched these parts to create the Death Star surface. Page 44 of the Star Wars Sketchbook shows a Star Wars panel that has the same 3 raised ribs/fins that your piece has...
 
Thanks for letting me know. I thought i had linked the whole photo album. I will send links to the individual pics.
Bruce L.
 
They look like ANH Death Star pieces. They could have been reused or recast for ROTJ.

You can see the one with the three tall wedges here:

ds_panel_ep4.jpg


The surface detail on the section next to the wedges looks spot on.

The other piece is more difficult to spot on the wide expanse of the Death Star surface, but it's probably there too. As ewokus said they match the concept drawing from Star Wars Sketchbook p44.
 
ILM didn't use fiberglass to make those Death Star surface pieces. I've personally seen and held at least 3 dozen pieces of varying scales from 3 inches square to 24 inches square and they were all made of that biscuit foam material. They are all solid, but the foam is very low density so it's quite light and easily damaged. The bottom should be flat across and unpainted.

Looks to me like someone made a mold of a real piece and laid it up in fiberglass. They even gave it a weathered paint job. Nice display, but not an authentic original. Sorry.

-chris
 
SeanB13 said:
What are the dimensions? How big is it?​
Click to expand...
It is 11 1/4 inches deep by 23 1/2 inches wide and 6-9 inches tall depending on what area is measured. I have all but given up on the fact that this was screen-used, but darn it, I would love to find out the story behind this piece. Someone did take a lot of care to produce this and I would love to know why. Since all pieces were made of biscuit foam, and it seems to be unique, I would doubt that it was created just to fool me. LOL. Could it have been a gift for someone, like the way they molded new Space Slug teeth and gave them out? Maybe a concept piece to show how the surface might look? I will continue my quest. Thanks to everyone who chimed in and I will let you know if anything else comes up. Until then, if anyone knows anyone, please show them the pics and find out what you can. I know someone out there knows something!
Bruce L.
 
blieber said:
it seemed to come from a reputable source who purchased it from Pinewood Studios
Click to expand...

No part of ROTJ was shot at Pinewood Studios, and in any event, Death Star surface models were created and shot in California and were not needed for the UK portion of production.
 
There are gorgeous custom one-offs made on therpf all the time, so the existence of a single fiberglass DS suface piece really isn't surprising to see. Also, your piece matches ANH Death Star pieces that I've seen, not ROTJ which tended to be mostly pretty flat.

As mentioned, the DS effects shots were done at ILM, not in the UK so the DS surface wouldn't have made its way there for any reason that I can think of. In fact, after ANH was done, the DS surface pieces ended up sitting in a storage unit and many were lost due to flood damage.

Pieces have been out in the marketplace almost since the beginning (as Fan Club giveaways) so there has been ample opportunity for copies to have been made.

The other thing I notice about your piece is that it just doesn't seem old. The top is very nicely painted and the black spray gives it an "aged" look on top, but that's just cosmetic. The underneath doesn't look old at all to me.

Plus, the UK is notorious for fakes and customs when it comes to SW items. In the SW toy world, there are fakes sold on eBay every week and in the prop world, you have the whole Elstree Props fiasco.

-chris
 
If some good is to come of this, and I'm being REALLY selfish here, Good reference of this set of tiles is really hard to come by and is great for my scaled down versions.
These are almost definitely from an original piece in terms of the details, but I agree that at least as far as ANH was concerned they were all biscuit foam.
However ANH tiles WERE used in ROTJ but I don't know if they were re-moulded or re-cast or just salvaged old tiles.
One thing that is curious is that this is two tiles from a set of four. All the sets were moulded as a four and it was the castings that were cut, but yours has obviously been re-moulded (by whoever) as a two. Like I say, maybe ILM did this for Jedi, but it is certainly unprecedented as far as I know.
Once again thanks for the great pics and any more close ups would be gratefully received!!!!!!
cheers
minifig
 
@ lonepigeon do you mind if I ask where those pictures are from?

I'm guessing they're cropped down from a larger image but it doesn't look familiar :eek:)

M
 
minifig said:
@ lonepigeon do you mind if I ask where those pictures are from?

I'm guessing they're cropped down from a larger image but it doesn't look familiar :eek:)

M
Click to expand...

They're behind the scenes shots from the making of ANH from Lucasfilm.
Sorry, I can't share the full images.
One was this shot:
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The other had Hamill in it.
 
ChrisG said:
Plus, the UK is notorious for fakes and customs when it comes to SW items. In the SW toy world, there are fakes sold on eBay every week and in the prop world, you have the whole Elstree Props fiasco.

-chris
Click to expand...


Chris,

what do you mean with that "fiasco" ?

sven
 
HotDog said:
Chris,

what do you mean with that "fiasco" ?
Click to expand...

It turned out the company was using the Elstree name to capitalize on its association with Star Wars, and to further exploit that association in presenting fakes as production-made items.
 
Ah ok, I did not know that. When did this turn out?
I remember a time, they had every week star wars items on ebay..
Is there a thread about this to read in this forum or anywhere else?
I would be interested tor read more about that.
Sven
 
You can read about the fake Luke ROTJ reveal sabers here:
Revisting the Elstree Props “Return of the Jedi” Star Wars Lightsabers: The $50,000 Question (Original or Replica?) : The Original Prop Blog – Jason DeBord's TV and Movie Prop Memorabilia Resource

More fake lightsabers:
Star Wars “Original Prototype Lightsabers from 1976 Meeting” : The Original Prop Blog – Jason DeBord's TV and Movie Prop Memorabilia Resource

Another “Original” Luke Skywalker Lightsaber Offered For Sale : The Original Prop Blog – Jason DeBord's TV and Movie Prop Memorabilia Resource

Fake biker scout blaster:
Fake ‘Star Wars’ Movie Prop Blaster Resurfaces on eBay with Elstree Props “Danziger Collection” Certificate of Authenticity : The Original Prop Blog – Jason DeBord's TV and Movie Prop Memorabilia Resource

Fake signatures on "Certificates of Authenticity":
“Who is N. Harrison?”: Update on Questions About Certificates of Authenticity Issued By Prior Owners of Elstree Props : The Original Prop Blog – Jason DeBord's TV and Movie Prop Memorabilia Resource


They've sold a lot of fake props over the last few years. Some of the props were even made by members here and were passed of as original (Elstree got them second hand - members were not involved in scams).

For example this one was made by RPF member Bobadebt:
Prop Watchlist: Star Wars Imperial Blaster : The Original Prop Blog – Jason DeBord's TV and Movie Prop Memorabilia Resource
 
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