My own mpp story is more recent but also funny.
I was talking with Chaim about dave prowse was coming to a con near my home, and Chaim told me he saw a MPP for sale, and couldn't afford it.
I didn't know where, so I made searches and finally I found a active sale on Ebay UK.
I contacted the seller because there was a reserve price and he replied me the reserve price was somethink like 400£ or so
I wanted to reply telling it was too much, and I saw a second reply telling he dropped to 250£ so the flashgun could be sold.
So I decided to break the bank, and I offered him a price as buy now, telling the next week Dave Prowse was in a con a few miles from my home and if I can get it soon enough I could get it signed.
I get it the week before the con, just in time!
The flashgun had the wrong tube, and whatever could be wrong on a MPP... but perfect emitter and reflector too.
So I finally kept the emitter and reflector and trade the body to someone living a few miles from my home, yes, about 10 miles, and get the right tube with all good details.
It was really a kind of luck to get these, as I get so lucky to find a set of kobolds on ebay, and the genuine old HP boards on a fleamarket in same town.
I remember my first graflex was 110$ in 2010, was the very beginning for the prop hobby for me, the graflex had many inaccurate details and general condition was not terrific so I kept the clamp and built my furst saber from russrep parts, obi ep 4, I still have the grenade on my obi saber, but all other parts have been sold a long time ago...
After I bought but didn't receive the MPP, the seller sent me this picture:
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And one week later I took this one, back in 2013 or so.
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This picture is from 2015:
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