Original ROTS C 3PO face mask

[Nairod]

Hi guys.

I'm sure that many of you saw this item on ebay, few weeks ago (remember the huge price ^^).

At the beginning, I was very sceptical about its origins and really thought that it was a replica.

But regarding to the story told by the owner and the pics I received, I changed my opinion.

Some details speaks themselves!

First, here's the pics of this face mask (I asked the owner before to share these photos).

















For the "short" story, this prop have been acquired from someone who works in the tv/film industry (I know, the usual story). Authenticated by Lucasfilm, it seems that this face mask will return to the Archives.

Now, a point about the details which makes this prop certainly real and not a replica:



The eyes: Same lens material, same white stuff behind the lenses, resin grids, just the grids, without the ring behind them (like the first trilogy style in brass).
Fixation system: We can clearly see the little hole over the to of this face mask, where was placed the antenna fixation ring (see the pic with Anthony Daniels). Plus the notch, typical of the prequel helmet.

The nose section looks a little bit curved and not as rectilinear as we can see on many replicas!!

But the most interesting things is the fact that some days after this auction was published, a member new here claimed to be a proud owner of an original C 3PO faceplate (unfortunately, he posted to much messages on the wrong section...which were supprimed).
I contacted him in order to obtain more informations (but I thought it was the same person who auctionned the face mask above).

Finally, it's not the same person and he sent me some pictures of his face mask...and it's not the same. Same details which lets me think that it's also an original prop from ROTS.
It's not a lie, I'm a real fan of C 3PO and to see appear two original face masks (and not the other parts) at the same time, was so much strange that I decided to create this thread.

I hope that the actual owner of the second mask (a member here) will be able to share some pics...or let me post them here.

I really thanks the first owner for letting me post these pics and for the informations!!!

 

[GordonTarpley]

No replies yet!? I would love to see some high res verions of those images. Really handy stuff for me.

 

[Nairod]

I think that many people thought it was a fake. First, I really thought it was a good replica. But some details doesn't lie.

And according to each owner, authenticated by LFL (I asked if I could post the pics of the second face mask).

I would prefer to see the guy "unbanned" from the RPF.

 

[Art Andrews]

I would prefer to see the guy "unbanned" from the RPF.

The owner of that mask wasn't banned because we thought he was a scammer. He was banned for continuing to spam the board with multiple posts in different forums on the site after he was asked to stop.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Do the first owner also have the back-piece or only the face part of the mask?

 

[Nairod]

I understand concerning his ban.

Both owner only have the face mask. It's why it was so strange.

I've got the permission to post the pics from the second owner.

 

[CSMacLaren]

It's impossible to assess the shape of a mask when the camera distance is so close. (looks like 1-3 feet away) It's called perspective distortion. Can't really compare against screenshots because the movie camera was never that close to the subject.

If you have the means, please provide images photographed at least 6 feet back? Also have the mask looking directly into the camera.

Here is Pantheragem's helmet. Same helmet, but two different photographic distances:

6 feet should be the standard for all helmet photography. Iron Man, Stormtroopers, Batman cowls, War Machine, Vader, etc.

 

[Agent RayBans]

Don Bies would probably have some insight on this.

 

[wariwen]

IDK I am still skeptical at this point. its so hard to say if its exact or just a near replica any way to date the wires or tape used?

 

[Nairod]

Note this detail always missing on replicas!!

 

[Bince]

Nice job Nairod (tu as l'oeil)

 

[ep1972]

According to Lucas Archives back in 2006 the C3PO costume from ROTS was a re plated Return of the Jedi used costume.

When I saw the many C3PO helmets at the archives, none of the complete versions had their eyes tapped into place, and the mic line had a small box right next to it, that this one also does not have. They all had foam on the interior for Daniels comfort.

I don't believe that this helmet is original, sorry.

 

[robstyle]

I too was told the prequel 3P0's were recycled OT suits and got to handle many of the items while doing promo and commercial work for EP3. This is the face Anthony Daniels and a stand in for him wore on multiple gigs while promoting EP3. Not to say there are not multiples but this is a real one.