Is an authentic Graflex priceless?

BB8

Active Member
My wife was on Facebook when a friend posted he received a replica Graflex for his birthday. He was elated, and his saber looks great!

I immediately remembered that line by Belloc, in Indiana Jones about burying a worthless watch in the sand for a thousand years and it being priceless.

Upon further thought, I realized that there were probably very few Graflex flash handles made...and only those professionals in the industry would have purchased such a high priced item.

If Disney is consistent, we are potentially looking at 38 Star Wars movies in my generation (I'm 45).

I also thought about what photos your Graflex flash handle might have illuminated. Probably someone of historical significance.

I of course have no production numbers, but given it's primary purpose I would suspect it is not that high. I loathe to think how many ended up in a land fill after an estate sale as well!

Given the typical Star Wars audience and it's bigger reach beyond pop culture. The significance of its history (almost a religion) the Graflex may be on it's on its way to being priceless beyond monetary value.

On this note, I decided to not alter anymore Graflex's.

We, here at the RPF kind of forget how small of a group we represent which is misleading. It would be nice to catalog current owners and the variations.

I defer to the real masters on this board. I just thought it would be a good way to keep some reference for future generations, and give us an idea of how many authentic Graflex's are actually out there.

Anyways, just a thought. I'd love to hear some opinions on this from all of you.

Kindest Regards
 
I don't know actual production numbers-- but it was a lot. Hundreds of thousands. People have found NOS lots of them in the last 6-7 years. There's literally hundreds just held by RPFers.

They also weren't high-end. Pro-sumer is probably the best term. And despite their amazing industrial design, photographers were happy to replace them with the ugly as sin, but more functional Graflite.

Photographers like to hate on us for destroying antiques, but to be honest, their worth is based on Star Wars. If it were not for Star Wars, they'd be worth $50 at most and sought after by people with old press cams. and no one else. I don't think they are rare enough to every truly be priceless.
 
I don't know actual production numbers-- but it was a lot. Hundreds of thousands. People have found NOS lots of them in the last 6-7 years. There's literally hundreds just held by RPFers.

They also weren't high-end. Pro-sumer is probably the best term. And despite their amazing industrial design, photographers were happy to replace them with the ugly as sin, but more functional Graflite.

Photographers like to hate on us for destroying antiques, but to be honest, their worth is based on Star Wars. If it were not for Star Wars, they'd be worth $50 at most and sought after by people with old press cams. and no one else. I don't think they are rare enough to every truly be priceless.


Thanks for the reply! My wife hails from upstate NY, her father and co-workers were of Kodak background with Graflex mixed in.

I'm not dismissing 100's of thousands but according to the in laws it wasn't a big production. Time magazine was a big client. I just don't see those numbers well represented which is why the thought occurred to me.

If there have been several replica manufacturers of the Graflex today, it does however stand to reason there are not that many found or abundant supplies of the original floating around.

That is the main reason why I thought of some sort of registry. Regardless, it's a beautiful piece of tech, and I for one would really like some more history!
 
The original patent was filed July 19, 1940 by Oscar Steiner, an engineer at Graflex who developed a lot of photo gear. I believe these units only were made for a few years, as by the mid 1940s all brass was sucked up by the military for munitions. Also, as film speeds increased, photographers moved to smaller bayonet bulbs, and Graflites and the Heiland-type flash handles were more adaptable.

The bulb eject (what we call "bunny ears") was lousy on the 37F units forcing photographers to manually remove the burning-hot bulbs--not good. Other flashes did it much better. The flashlight feature on the 37F was a neat idea, but, otherwise, Graflites were preferable.

If not for Star Wars, the "Graflex" would have been relegated to history's dustbin years ago. Frankly, that's probably where most of them rest now. I can't tell you how many times at camera shows some old-timer told me, "Oh, those, things, I threw them out years ago." Heartbreaking.


Graflex Patent 7 19 40.jpg
 
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?... If it were not for Star Wars, they'd be worth $50 at most and sought after by people with old press cams. and no one else. I don't think they are rare enough to every truly be priceless.

Funny enough, back in 2014 or very early 2015 I decided I'd try my first lightsaber build. I went to eBay to look for a GRAFLEX, & found a ton of them for less than $80. Found one I liked with a "buy it now" for $70. I needed a pay check before buying it, but since this was Wednesday I figured I could hold out till Friday (like I've done many many times before). Plus there were loads of them, so if someone bought this one I'd have plenty of others to choose from.
Then the trailer for TFA hit on Thursday, & oh look, how'd they find Luke's lightsaber from ESB? Wonder how they're gonna explain that? I go back to eBay to see if anyone bid on, or bought, my GRAFLEX...... & not only was it bought, but to my horror, EVERY GRAFLEX now had multiple bids on them over $400!!! & this was Thursday, by Friday they all had bids over $700, & by the end of the weekend they were going for over $1,000.
So, without Star Wars, these are pretty cheap.
 
Funny enough, back in 2014 or very early 2015 I decided I'd try my first lightsaber build. I went to eBay to look for a GRAFLEX, & found a ton of them for less than $80. Found one I liked with a "buy it now" for $70. I needed a pay check before buying it, but since this was Wednesday I figured I could hold out till Friday (like I've done many many times before). Plus there were loads of them, so if someone bought this one I'd have plenty of others to choose from.
Then the trailer for TFA hit on Thursday, & oh look, how'd they find Luke's lightsaber from ESB? Wonder how they're gonna explain that? I go back to eBay to see if anyone bid on, or bought, my GRAFLEX...... & not only was it bought, but to my horror, EVERY GRAFLEX now had multiple bids on them over $400!!! & this was Thursday, by Friday they all had bids over $700, & by the end of the weekend they were going for over $1,000.
So, without Star Wars, these are pretty cheap.

@Russelsch.

Ha ha. I also remember when they were going for under 50 dollars. My point at posting this thread is that I believe the actual number of Graflex units remaing is actually pretty low.

We on the RPF might have a bit of a skewed perception. Many members here have one, and we often see them listed on Ebay.

I have a program watching across numerous auction sites worldwide and rarely does "Graflex" come up let alone the correct flash handle.

Most of the handles we see are here in the US. The second being the U.K. but even that is a rare event.

On any given day there is an average of 12 Graflex units being sold on EBay with 90 percent of those being a repeat listing. And within those 12 I can only verify 7 as being authentic.

I, like many members here have multiples, but looking back at the Graflex posts have counted 37 people claiming they have one or more in there possession.

We could be talking hundreds, or even possibly thousands but my research so far doesn't support the larger numbers.

Maybe I'm wrong? But it would be nice to know, as we do covet the Graflex on the RPF and I know most of us have a real admiration of its design aesthetic.

Anyways my friends, if you'd like to post here if you have one that would be great! Let me know if you have multiples, and where/when you collected them. I'd really appreciate it!

PS

Also, when I talk about priceless I wanted it to be clear I wasn't talking about monetary value. I think it would be good to know it's rarity so we can be better informed if we want to permanently modify one.

Kindest Regards,

BB
 
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They're not that rare. In fact, as far as Star Wars found items go, they're actually pretty common. MPP's and Kobold/Linhofs would be rarer actually. And pretty much all the scopes and guns. And all the Obi Wan parts.
 
Don't forget, no camera had a built in flash in the 30's and 40's. They were all add-ons. I see them in old tv shows and movies frequently. There was some show this past year doing a 30s ish flashback episode that had one in it.
 
I'd still LOVE a real genuine GRAFLEX. Hopefully they'll one day, again, drop down below $100.
Until then.... thank God for Roman!!! :cheers
 
I currently have one sitting on my workbench for conversion/install another in full original status with flash pan on a shelf on display and have bought then sold 2 others. 2 from eBay and 2 others from a collector in a package deal when I bought my original MPP (stepped shroud so not perfect...). And I'm only a clean (I have a very poor quality) MK1 grenade short from full vintage Obi so yes I know the latter are more rare, especially the MK1. No matter the numbers out there there is something about holding a real world part. I can't imagine what it'd be like to hold/own an actual movie one.
 
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