*sigh* My 22nd MPP...gone, baby, gone.

I have just lost, terribly, my 22nd shot at an MPP.

I have tried to acquire 22 of them over the last four years, and have missed the boat every time.

It's a Holy Grail for me, a genuine flash, so I will persevere.

Does anyone else have stories of years-long searches that still elude them?

(And the Obi parts don't count... )

 

I got one genuine MPP flash.
Interested? :love

 

You weren't talking about the Ebay auction that closed on the 22nd were you? If so, I won that. SORRY

 

I searched for years to aquire not only an MPP but also a Graflex, and as luck would have it they were either too expensive or in poor condition.

So I go to a camera shop one day to pick up some film and I just decide to ask the counter person if they had old equipment for sale. The lady ased me what I was looking for so I ttold her I needed a few flash handles for some older cameras.

She says I think we have a box full in the back let me go get them. She returned with the HOLY GRAIL of all of us colectors. The box was full of flash handles. I asked her what she wanted for the whole box, her reply was $50.00.

I gladly paid for it and went home. In that box were 15 Graflex, 8 MPP's, 6 Praco's, and 2 Kobold flash handles as well as a bunch of other flashes too.

Needles to say it was a great day for me, now all I needed to do was get them all converted. I used a lot of them as gifts for friends through out the years but I still have mine and they are proudly displayed.

 

Ok, first of all, are you $hitting me?.

Second of all, PM me if you ever sell a Praco.

 

You are lucky Kal-L you didn't win it.

http://www.rpf.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=103672

That's a pain in the (_._)

 

Actually, that thread I wrote is referring to one from last week. The seller had up a Graflex and an MPP that he was claiming were real. The one that ended yesterday I'm pretty sure is genuine. We shall see.

 

Is there a link to the auction?

thanks

FB

 

FB,

Which auction did you want a link to? The one that ended yesterday or the bad auction from last week.

Scott

 

No. It's a true story. I have a great little camera store here and they are alway buying out estates camera collections. I will be going there on Wendsday to see if there are any more flash handles to pick up. I usually go there every couple of months to see what has come in.

 

Nope .......sorry........not buying it.

Will require photgraphic evidence to confirm.

Likelyhood of that many of just the right kinds of flash units to end up randomly in one spot is unbelievably high.

 

Well you don't have to buy it at all. It's not like I'm trying to scam any one for any reason. I have been collecting Star Wars related items for the better part of 15 years. I also collect antique cameras as well. These Items did not randomly end up in my posession, or in one spot either. The camera shop I deal with buys camera collections from estates. They never buy just one camera or just one piece of camera equipment, they buy all of it. I got lucky 7 years ago not yesterday. Trust me it is getting harder to find flash handles now. with all the hype and people knowing what they are now.

There is another local camera shop that has about 15 graflex's on display all of them are perfect and original, they want $400.00 a piece for them. Some dealers know what they have and some don't care what movie they may have been in. I have picked up graflex's for as low as $25.00 in perfect shape, I even have one in the original box too. But that graflex is displayed with a camera.

Again you don't have to believe me, as I really don't care if you do. I was just recalling my story of a great find.

 

The MPP in the auction was legit/real, unless the seller put a two step shroud and bulb reflector on a replica (not likely)....not the correct version though but a nice base unit.

 

One good way to tell if an MPP flash is authentic or not is to look at the clamp sleeve assembly. Almost all authentic ones i have seen has scratches in a perfect arc on both sides. These scratches are created when the photographers turn the lever w/o putting it in a right angle position first.
Of course a sure way to distinguish it is to smell the interior of the flash. But since you are pretty much limited to pictures on ebay, perhaps what i described above is a good way.

 

I call BS too. Camera dealers have long ago learned about the Star Wars folks looking for those flash handles. Let's see pictures.

 

Yea like I actually have a photo from 7 years ago. Did you read my post. Or maybe you refuse to believe that it could happen.

 

....I'd like to find just one.....I did find a real MPP at a local camera shop...but the clerk did know what it was. They wanted $350 CDN for it and it was in pretty rough shape. A lot of corrosion & scratches....could've cleaned it up, I guess...but not for that kinda $.....

 

I have two real Graflex's which I got before prices went insane , But I have also wanted a MPP for a long time , thought I got lucky once a friend picked one up for me cheap , but when I went to pick it up it was a two cell , at least I can make a Fett blaster



Guess I will make a hardware one untill the real thing comes around.

 

Staying on topic.

Still trying to find where the stormy mic tips come from the ANH Hovi mix Pa2 ones. Keith's replicas are the absolute business but I crave the real deal

It has been a constant search for about 3 years now.

I wish I could find them it seriously drives me nuts :angry

Hopefully one day it will be a found part until then I will keep on trying.

Cheers Chris.

 

Seven years ago?

That would be 1998...if you don't count this year since we are barely in January.

The RPF as we know it now was not even born yet. I do not think EZboard was even around then.

At that time we still thought the Ob1 saber was made from a motorcycle handle and a lawnmower gear.

We still thought the ANH Vader saber was made from a Heiland..not an MPP. (And that the ESB Vaser was from a Heiland "SOL" flash.)

Ep1 was not even out yet....and the Visual Dic was even further down the line (when we first saw Yoda's saber).

And even after the Yoda saber was introduced...we all thought for the longest time it was a Bosley flash. (It was not until around early 2001 that it was discovered to be a Praco.)

But you find all these flash parts...in 1998.

The MPP and Praco have not been identified yet (Hell..the Yoda/Praco was still a glimmer in Steve D's eye) but you say...

"needles to say it was a great day for me"

...which aludes to you knowing exactly what the flashes were used for...in 1998.


Yeah...a pretty tall tale.

But nice story nonetheless.

 

I don't think the MPP discovery had been made until 99...probably the latter half of it.

-Brandon

 

Brandon..

If I recall correctly...there was "rumblings" about the MPP being the Vader saber in late 1999.

But I seem to recall it was not confirmed until right after Xmas...1999. Maybe even during the New Year...2000.

I remember this because I felt all cool..getting my first Graflex for Xmas of 1999...and having the Heiland already.

I thought I had both Holy Grails...only to be taken down a notch when it was discovered after Xmas that the ANH Vader was indeed an MPP and not a Heiland. :lol

 

Heh, those were the halcyon days, were they not Dude? I have almost a similar story to you in that regard. I had secured my original Graflex and I had a Heiland 3-Cell and I felt SO GOOD that I had them both. Then nope, MPP. I remember seeing the images and saying something like "well I'll be darned, there it is."

I have to echo the sentiments of everyone else here... those discoveries were both staggered and revolutionary at the time, the mere inkling that they were in the same box *and* the poster knew exactly what they were does make for a pretty good story but is probably not reality. Unless they were some sort of LFL insider, in which case I doubt they would be openly posting here.

I think the best "catch" story I've heard from that timeframe was someone coming up with a pair of Graflex 3-Cells for something like $10 or $20 from some old camera guy at a gun show or something. And that seemed way outlandish for the timeframe, but he had pics to back it up.

Either way, no malice intended but it'd be nice to see some evidence of such an amazing discovery. And for the record, I have MANY photos of prop stuff from 1998.

Good stuff guys, this thread has been a fun read.

 

Well finding all of those flash handles at the time was due to me collecting antique cameras, that was the original intent of acquiring flash handles in the first place. Also the collecting of star wars items too. I knew when I saw luke's saber in ANH that it was a flash handle, I did not know it in 1977 but buy the mid 80's I knew. Vader's saber did not register until the late 80's as to its origin with me, until then I assumed that it to was a heiland flash ( I have a few of these too ). As for the Praco that was made to be Yoda's saber That did not come about until the VD came out. I bought that book and was flipping through it and figured, I wonder, I went to my collection of parts for antique cameras and there were quite a few Handles that it could have been.

Not only do I collect antique cameras but I also use them too. Did I know what I had at the time I purchased the flash handles, not all of them no. But I knew what Luke's was when I did. The rest fell into place as my discoveries were made.

How many knew what the Stormie blaster was made from? I knew in 1982, how did I know because my grandfather was a gun collector, and he recognised the Sterling, same with Han's pistol too.

So not that this thread has gotten way off topic. I can't believe that there are some people that refuse to believe that some one could know of something before a certain time frame or before this meager forum was even thought of, but doing so you show your ignorance of life.

 

I started the Paypal process. Got an Ebay message from the seller and he is real * at ME for accusing him of Scamming. And now he is claiming he is broke and can't refund the money as he sold it for rent money. :angry