Who made the best grail diary prop replica ever?

hey all,

i was just wondering if i could get some opinions from the members as to who they think made the best grail diary?

from what i have read, it would seem magnoli grail diary is the best most detailed and accurate grail diary made. But it seems not many were made so i'm not sure if many will have one to compare to another replica?

any info and pictures would be awsome.

i have seen so many pictures of Sarednab's grail diary and it looks nice, but from what i have read, it would seem, a magnoli diary is the one to have if you can find one, and I have been told he does not make them anymore. is this true?
 
You are correct, Indy Magnoli no longer offers his diary.

I researched long and hard before I decided which diary to buy, like you, I really wanted the most accurate diary available. So after many days looking at all the photos of the replicas available, photos of the original diaries, and speaking with the sellers... I confidently decided on Sarednabs diary!

In my honest opinion his diary is amazing, and is the best out there! You might have already read my review and seen my photos, but if not you can find them here:

http://www.therpf.com/f13/grail-diary-hero-prop-story-prop-60803/index5.html

Regards,

Andy
 
If you are looking for the BEST grail diary ever, there's only one choice: I own Sarednab's diary, and I can assure is the best replica I ever saw, the details are so close to the original, that you'll think to have in hand a screen used prop.
 
I'm a HUGE fan of Sarednab's work. I have both of his versions. The hero and the prop. I love them and can't praise his work and customer service enough. I give it my highest marks.

Best
Taz
 
I have seen Orange_Blend grail diary and while I have not seen many others, it was mighty impressive! :) Definitely check it out, cause you might be doing yourself a disservice if you don't!

-Skyler101
 
I have both Sarednab’s hero and prop Grail diaries and can honestly say that they are works of art.

The attention to detail is amazing and on top of this Pasquale is a great guy to deal with.

I count Pasquale amongst my very closest of friends, even though we have never actually met in person.

Best
Mark
Indiana Andrews
 
Hi there,

I own a grail diary made by Charlie a.k.a. Serenity. After long deliberation I choose his over Sarednab's because all the text was handwritten and not a font, mind you the diary is printed though. It also had Hitler's signature added in pencil on the correct page. I've never seen the one made by Sarednab in person, so I can not make an honest comparison though. So you much choose the grail diary for yourself ... but choose wisely. ;)

Here are pictures of the one made by Charlie, also a wonderful person and easy to deal with:

http://www.therpf.com/f13/grail-diary-options-trade-star-wars-firefly-128424/

-Chaim
 
wow thanks so much for the info all, but now im more confused than ever! seems members have different opinions on different makers.

can anyone give me any info at all on magnoli? does anyone know just how many were made of his? it's hard to find any kind of review based on his diary which makes me think not many were made at all, but I did read that his was the best one to have.. has magnoli stopped making these for 10 years or more?

i wish i could get some info on his. not even sure how much his cost compared to these other fine replicas.

i'm actually kinda shocked no one has mentioned magnoli as i thought that was "The One" to have. But if not many people own them them i guess not many people will speak of them.

I heard Magnoli used real money as inserts in some of his and actually went all out on the detail of the books and inserts as they were 100% scratch made.

Magnoli is the only diary I cannot seem to find any reviews on. Does that mean only a handful were made and maybe not more than 1 or 2 members on RPF may own one to speak of it?
any info on that would be excellent.
 
I have a diary Sarednab and tell you that it is a masterpiece, the details, the paper inserts, an amazing job!:thumbsup
 
I once wrote a detailed review of Sarednab's diary that discussed content and appearance. He is still offering them in the JY:

http://www.therpf.com/f9/sarednabs-story-grail-diary-80719/

I could not be happier with mine. I actually have one of each, his story prop and his hero prop and they are fantastic. "Story" means the diary has been arranged to read as of Henry truly wrote his account. It has dates, it's in order, and tells the story of his adventure. The "hero" prop looks just like the actual prop diary. It repeats pages and is in the same order the actual diary used in the movie. (the text is mostly repeated and makes little sense- but it's also neat to own a replica of what was used). A good first question to ask is which you find more appealing as different sellers sonetimes offer either one or both.

Sarednab's fonts are the most believable I have seen. It is probably my favorite prop replica in my collection. Feel free to PM me any questions.
 
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A brief history of my Grail Diary:

I made my first one back in 1995 or thereabout. It was small, not leather, inaccurate and all hand drawn. I continued to research and make more of these. Using fuzzy VHS screen grabs and the Archival book photos. I discovered the original source book, "Grail: Quest for the Eternal" in a local library. This greatly helped in perfecting the illustrations and confirming text on only screen-seen pages. So, book-by-book my diaries improved.

My big break came when a private collector who owned an original gave me access to his diary. I was able to 100% accurately arrive at the page order for the hero prop. I even was able to track down original inserts to copy. Several of the pages in my diaries were printed from high-res scans of original unaged illustartions and pages.

Hope that answers at least a few questions...

As for currently available replicas, I haven't seen any of these in person but we have come a LONG way from when I was doing these. Many of these new diaries are really fantastic. One personal pet-peeve of mine is those who use a font instead of hand-writing themselves. Though, a good font is better than bad handwriting, so it really is up to your own abilities.

Kind regards,
Magnoli
 
First of all, thanks to all people that comment my work! I'm really happy that my work like to many people.

Second thing. My biggest inspiration was Indy Magnoli! I started this passion seeing his work on the net and for me he is a true guru! I think the best Grail Diary ever made was done by Magnoli (my first prop was His Young Indy diary with an ibis embosses on cover).

So, I wanna thanks again all people that love what I done in these years. Thanks to people I improved every diary I made. I also wanna thanks Indy Magnoli for inspired me on this passion!

Bests,
Sarednab
 
Since others that are mentioned in this thread are chiming in I might as well. :)

I haven't seen in person any of the other diaries mentioned in this thread, only some (disappointing) ebay ones. That said, I've done a LOT of research and this is my impression of the offerings here:

Magnoli's diary is the cream of the crop for two reasons. First off he was the first to really do the prop well and with access to an original it was bang on in most respects. Second, he no longer offers them which in itself increases the value of a Magnoli diary dramatically. A Magnoli diary is the one that started it all.

demiguel.m and Charlie (Serenity) share the second slot in my opinion due to their "handwritten" status. Both diaries are works of art from what I've seen.

Sarednab is close behind with the best of the "font" diaries. The quality is excellent.

You cannot go wrong with any of those entries!

As for mine it's a top notch printed diary. For mine I do use a font but I re-drew almost all of the imagery in the book so it is crisp and looks hand drawn. Also, I laser print mine so that I can age it after printing, it adds a depth of realism that you certainly won't find in an ebay diary and the printing gets a nice aged look to is while staying crisp.

The big difference between my diary and say, Sarednab's, is that I spent about a year and a half on mine while he's spent MUCH more than that. The finishing on my diary is excellent, the content is pretty much the same as any other story diary, but things like the inserts I could probably go back and make a little more accurate.

I've got nothing but ecstatic reviews about my work and aside from the other four mentioned here I think I might hold spot number 5 on this list but I bow to the true masters. ;)

Now if you want a Hellboy Spellbook I've got the market covered. I'm the only one that does it! :lol
 
A brief history of my Grail Diary:

I made my first one back in 1995 or thereabout. It was small, not leather, inaccurate and all hand drawn. I continued to research and make more of these. Using fuzzy VHS screen grabs and the Archival book photos. I discovered the original source book, "Grail: Quest for the Eternal" in a local library. This greatly helped in perfecting the illustrations and confirming text on only screen-seen pages. So, book-by-book my diaries improved.

My big break came when a private collector who owned an original gave me access to his diary. I was able to 100% accurately arrive at the page order for the hero prop. I even was able to track down original inserts to copy. Several of the pages in my diaries were printed from high-res scans of original unaged illustartions and pages.

Hope that answers at least a few questions...

As for currently available replicas, I haven't seen any of these in person but we have come a LONG way from when I was doing these. Many of these new diaries are really fantastic. One personal pet-peeve of mine is those who use a font instead of hand-writing themselves. Though, a good font is better than bad handwriting, so it really is up to your own abilities.

Kind regards,
Magnoli

Mr Magnoli, thanks for posting. From few pictures I have seen of yours it looks excellent. I'm just curious as to what you used to charge for your diary's? what should I expect to pay for one if I find one for sale? also, the diary without all the fold out maps in the pages, would that be a story version and the one with the fold out maps would be the hero?

All of the grail diarys I have seen in this thread all look amazing btw and want to thank everyone for sharing their thoughts.
 
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