Graflex Bank - EVERYTHING you need to know about the Skywalker lightsaber prop!

What I find funny is that these sell for less than they did originally... Will definitely get myself one eventually.

I have thoughts back in my mind telling me to try getting my hands on all the different replicas produced, but that may be harder than I think to achieve
 
I remember getting like $650 for mine when I sold it. That was somewhere in the early 2000s. Guess I lucked out.

I also recall my certificate of authenticity was Valentine's day. Ha!
 
The Graflex Bank is now offering some apparel (via TeePublic) :) http://graflexbank.com/apparel.html

I will eventually reach out to others who are selling Graflex related apparel and ask for their permission to link it on this site, going one step further to being a hub for everything Graflex related


Fixed up my Graflex designs today as well, which I had been putting off for a long time. Now I need to update everything on the website.. Yet another thing I'm dreading, but it's gotta be done! :)

temp1.png
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View attachment temp3.png
Current lineup all fixed up!
 
This, along with Seth's Lightsaber eBook, has been a tremendous resource for me. Whenever I need to look something up about a Graflex or a replica of one, I go right here.
 
This, along with Seth's Lightsaber eBook, has been a tremendous resource for me. Whenever I need to look something up about a Graflex or a replica of one, I go right here.
I'm so glad that people are picking up the slack ever since partsofsw.com went dormant. Good stuff, Maynard.

Sent from my SM-J700P using Tapatalk
 
I find it hilarious that after all these months, and me complaining to myself in my head about the fonts looking crap when I knew they were supposed to look good...

font-family: 'Monteserrat', sans-serif;

That's what I had in my CSS - but it's Montserrat, not Monteserrat... How in the world did I not notice that? :facepalm

uZBXqxk.png
 
The Graflex Bank reached 1000 unique visitors last night... To me, that's crazy! Thank you all for the support :)

Some more stats (Started keeping track of stats Jan 11th):

Unique Users: 1,006
Pageviews: 6,844
Avg. Session Duration: 00:03:57
Avg. number of pages viewed per session: 4.04

Number of sessions per country, top 10:
Iwizuo4.png

Demographics:
i8Xuzzd.png
IncfknI.png

Top 10 referrals:
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The site's design has never been good enough in my mind. I've been stuck in a mindset of not having any idea what I want it to look like, but I think I've had my epiphany moment, realizing I want to sort of go for a "modern vintage" look.

Here's a picture of my current progress:

Redesign test.png

Left new - right old

Would love some input on this!
 
TITLE- I can't dislike either one! Any history behind the logo in the hex?

Honestly, not really :/ I was googling vintage graphic design for inspiration and decided I wanted a badge of sorts. Didn't put much thought into why I chose a hexagonal shape, it's just what popped into my head and I liked it.

I'm not really sure what I'm doing with any of this, I make it up as I go and learn from that! Slow learning for a slow learner, works out best this way :)
 
Wohoo, updated the site!

- New website design uploaded! Will continue to fix and change things as usual
- KR Sabers links in Where To Buy fixed to link the new website
- Darklyte Customs Graflex related shirts added to Apparel
- Graflex Bank new logo shirts available! Doubt anyone will buy this, but I wanted one for myself, so... :)
 
Hey! If any of you more knowledged people could go over the site and make sure there isn't any wrong information, I'd appreciate that a ton!

I know there's some errors in bottom stamping info, but I'll get that fixed asap

My memory is pretty bad (which is one of the reasons I made the site), so me going over everything myself isn't that helpful :)


(also hey im excited, my first vintage (2 cell, missing red button) should arrive soon! it's chillin' in customs atm)
 
This is the first I'm seeing this site and I have to say it looks great. You did a really nice job. I like the design and layout. Here are some things that stand out to me as far as prop info:

It's not possible to know what was stamped on the bottom of the ANH saber.

It might be more accurate to call the ESB beer tab "missing" rather than "removed", since we don't know why it's not there.

The brass screw in the clamp lever of the Ranch saber is the only thing holding on a broken lever. To my knowledge it is not known whether it was like this during filming, so maybe swap the order of the Dagobah and Ranch sabers and list the Ranch saber before the Dagobah saber... Note what we know about the Ranch saber since it is easily observed, then in the Dagobah saber listing you can say it's the same prop and note what we can or cannot surmise from observing the Ranch saber and looking at screencaps.

Severed Hand Stunt has two cone knobs deep-set inside the two front cord outlets. The same cone knobs appear on other Star Wars props.

The Bladed Stunt was not made into Darth Vader's lightsaber for ROTJ. It was likely dressed up to look like Darth Vader's lightsaber some time after ROTJ.

The grips on the Holiday Special saber are not likely to be T-track. It is not known what they are.

Also I would separate the movie props and the replica props (Launch Bay, Prop Shop, etc) into two different sections once you add more replicas (Larbel, GR, RE, etc) to the list.

Again, nice job! :thumbsup
 
This is just the kinda feedback I've been craving! :)

This is the first I'm seeing this site and I have to say it looks great. You did a really nice job. I like the design and layout.

Thank you!

It's not possible to know what was stamped on the bottom of the ANH saber.

I am aware, but was not at the time of originally compiling the information. Fixing this!

I believe SethS said the glass eye was in the Folmer style - can I get a double confirmation on this?

I've removed the stamping info from IV hero and IV promo saber - should maybe include something about the folmer style glass eye

It might be more accurate to call the ESB beer tab "missing" rather than "removed", since we don't know why it's not there.

Changed to missing

The brass screw in the clamp lever of the Ranch saber is the only thing holding on a broken lever. To my knowledge it is not known whether it was like this during filming, so maybe swap the order of the Dagobah and Ranch sabers and list the Ranch saber before the Dagobah saber... Note what we know about the Ranch saber since it is easily observed, then in the Dagobah saber listing you can say it's the same prop and note what we can or cannot surmise from observing the Ranch saber and looking at screencaps.

I'll look into changing this eventually :)

Severed Hand Stunt has two cone knobs deep-set inside the two front cord outlets. The same cone knobs appear on other Star Wars props.

Huh, yeah. Why didn't I add this already? Welp. Thanks, added!

The Bladed Stunt was not made into Darth Vader's lightsaber for ROTJ. It was likely dressed up to look like Darth Vader's lightsaber some time after ROTJ.

Hmm, where'd this misinformation come from? I think I may have pulled this info from Parts of SW - was this just some outdated inaccurate information? Made it strike-through for now

The grips on the Holiday Special saber are not likely to be T-track. It is not known what they are.

So I should drop the second half of this sentence?

"6 black grips of an unknown material were added to the bottom half of the prop, speculated to be hard plastic T-track from old cupboards with sliding doors."

Also I would separate the movie props and the replica props (Launch Bay, Prop Shop, etc) into two different sections once you add more replicas (Larbel, GR, RE, etc) to the list.

I'll move remove Prop Shop from this list eventually and keep it strictly in the replica list ( http://graflexbank.com/replicahistory.html ), but Launch Bay doesn't really fit in there as the list is meant to be of purchasable replicas. It is mentioned that these were not used or seen in the film, but I could make this point more highlighted

I'm doing this at work (with permission from the boss!), so it'll take a few hours before I have the changes uploaded to the site. I'll try to hurry uploading them after going to pick up my vintage 2 cell from the post office ;)

Anyway, many thanks for the feedback!
 
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This is just the kinda feedback I've been craving! :) Thank you!

Oh good, you're welcome!

I believe @SethS said the glass eye was in the Folmer style - can I get a double confirmation on this?

There are a few versions of glass eyes, and it's thought that the one on the ANH prop may be a Folmer version due to how it appears to be very unreflective in the promo photos. It's the later non-Folmer glass eyes that are very shiny, earlier ones had a duller finish.

I've removed the stamping info from IV hero and IV promo saber - should maybe include something about the folmer style glass eye

Honestly, I don't think it's worth mentioning. It's not known, it's one of those extra obscure little details that we here on the RPF like to speculate and obsess about. I feel like there's a time and a place for obsessing about the unknowns of stamping info and glass eye versions, and it's here in a prop forum, and not on a website that seeks to be an easy reference guide. That's just my opinion though. :)

Hmm, where'd this misinformation come from? I think I may have pulled this info from Parts of SW - was this just some outdated inaccurate information? Made it strike-through for now

POSW hasn't been updated in a very long time, and there is no evidence that the Graflex Vader saber ever appears on screen in its current state.

So I should drop the second half of this sentence?

"6 black grips of an unknown material were added to the bottom half of the prop, speculated to be hard plastic T-track from old cupboards with sliding doors."

Honestly, I wouldn't even say there is "6" of whatever is there. To my eye it looks more like a solid wraparound with ridges in it, but it's really open to interpretation. People like to use T-track on their replicas because we can't tell what's really there, and T-track will always "look right" on a saber.

I'll move remove Prop Shop from this list eventually and keep it strictly in the replica list ( http://graflexbank.com/replicahistory.html ), but Launch Bay doesn't really fit in there as the list is meant to be of purchasable replicas. It is mentioned that these were not used or seen in the film, but I could make this point more highlighted

Ah, I gotcha.

I'll try to hurry uploading them after going to pick up my vintage 2 cell from the post office ;)

Congrats on the 2-cell!
 
????????????

:lol

Well, more like one piece than six pieces. I actually think it's four wide rectangular pieces with some kinda ridges or cutouts in em. But I'm not trying to take this thread too far off topic. My point is it's definitely not 6 T-tracks.

HSgrips.jpg

It's this endcap shot that confuses me most:
HSendcap.jpg
 
If by Graflex Vader saber we're referring to the one with bolts all over it, it IS seen on screen. About the time vader swoops and leans on the railing and lets Luke wail on his arm. (Before the close-up)

DV Graflex ROTJ Stunt.jpg (Chaim -Sym-Cha)
Screen Shot 2015-06-20 at 12.56.15 AM.png
 
If by Graflex Vader saber we're referring to the one with bolts all over it, it IS seen on screen. About the time vader swoops and leans on the railing and lets Luke wail on his arm. (Before the close-up)

View attachment 727386 (Chaim -Sym-Cha)
View attachment 727387

tom refresh my memory, that is the saber vader throws are luke as well right? the part where the blade is embittered out the wrong end
 

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