Prop Store

Anyone heard of Hollywood Prop Supply ????

Dr Lobster

Dr Lobster

New Member
I found an item I wanted from them on ebay, a rubber Muzzelite Mini 14 (Muzzelite MZ 14 Bull Pup | eBay) supposedly used in T2, Predator 2, Total Recall and a few other movies. There was only one pick of the rubber rifle, so I asked kindly for some information on the item, considering I had never heard of them before, and some shots of the item used in the movies stated to verify the provenance. It said it came with a COA, but considering I had never heard of Hollywood Prop Supply, I wanted to make sure of the items background before I purchased.

I kindly sent this message:
Curious if you had shots of this item being used in the mentioned films? I Noticed damage to the handle, and was also curious what it was caused from? Also curious about the COA, considering I have never heard of your company, and know that the prop was not made by your company.

Thanks


I received a response stating:
The best rule of thumb is when in doubt, do not make the purchase. P.S. We have not heard of you either!

I replied, somewhat insulted at this point:

Wasn't trying to be a smart ass, and so a smart ass remark is uncalled for. I was interested in this item, but considering your response, which seems very suspect, I shall drop my interest. If you wish to sell your rubber prop rifle, I suggest you work on your customer service skills and back up your claims with some actual proof. All I was asking for was what any true collector would ask for.

Regards


I felt I had made my point, and was now satisfied with the end result: I was not going to purchase this item, even though I really wanted it.

I received another response shortly:
We have survived for 13 years without your comments or purchases...I have a feeling that we can continue. Have a wonderful week!

Needless to say, I was taking aback by this response. In all of my years collecting items and such, I had never been treated this way.

Has anyone ever dealt with this company before???
And if so, were you happy with what you purchased???

I don't feel like I was out of line in any respect, but it seems like this has become the norm on ebay.
 
Dr Lobster said:
I found an item I wanted from them on ebay, a rubber Muzzelite Mini 14 (Muzzelite MZ 14 Bull Pup | eBay) supposedly used in T2, Predator 2, Total Recall and a few other movies. There was only one pick of the rubber rifle, so I asked kindly for some information on the item, considering I had never heard of them before, and some shots of the item used in the movies stated to verify the provenance. It said it came with a COA, but considering I had never heard of Hollywood Prop Supply, I wanted to make sure of the items background before I purchased.

I kindly sent this message:
Curious if you had shots of this item being used in the mentioned films? I Noticed damage to the handle, and was also curious what it was caused from? Also curious about the COA, considering I have never heard of your company, and know that the prop was not made by your company.

Thanks


I received a response stating:
The best rule of thumb is when in doubt, do not make the purchase. P.S. We have not heard of you either!

I replied, somewhat insulted at this point:

Wasn't trying to be a smart ass, and so a smart ass remark is uncalled for. I was interested in this item, but considering your response, which seems very suspect, I shall drop my interest. If you wish to sell your rubber prop rifle, I suggest you work on your customer service skills and back up your claims with some actual proof. All I was asking for was what any true collector would ask for.

Regards


I felt I had made my point, and was now satisfied with the end result: I was not going to purchase this item, even though I really wanted it.

I received another response shortly:
We have survived for 13 years without your comments or purchases...I have a feeling that we can continue. Have a wonderful week!

Needless to say, I was taking aback by this response. In all of my years collecting items and such, I had never been treated this way.

Has anyone ever dealt with this company before???
And if so, were you happy with what you purchased???

I don't feel like I was out of line in any respect, but it seems like this has become the norm on ebay.
Click to expand...


Since you are asking for members input on this "company", here is mine:

From what I have read about Hollywood Prop Supply, L. A. Prop and Wardrobe, & The Costume Collection, it appears you may be better off not doing business with them.

Read the article below from WFAA-TV in 2008. There was also a very good video report done which I can't locate at this time. Here is basically the written version of the video.

Dallas auction house sold questionable Hollywood items
12:31 PM CST on Wednesday, February 6, 2008
By DAVID SCHECHTER / WFAA-TV


Some of the hottest items in Hollywood memorabilia are sold in Dallas. That's because one of the world's largest auction houses is here. It's called Heritage.

However, News 8 has learned, the authenticity of some of the celebrity items Heritage has sold is highly suspect and Heritage is now offering refunds.

Some items may have been ordinary, vintage pieces purchased for a few dollars on eBay, then later sold for thousands at Heritage as having once belonged to Hollywood stars.

Charles Heard, a Dallas collector, recently bought Errol Flynn's whiskey flask at Heritage for $4,200. But just like the movies, not everything is what it seems to be.

Heard began to doubt the flask's provenance, which is an item's paper trail, that shows all the previous owners.

The Errol Flynn flask came with a certificate saying it was from private collection of Ann Sothern - a popular 1940's actress. When Sothern died, her daughter sold off her mother's valuables. So, Heard contacted the daughter, Tisha Sterling, to see if the flask ever belonged to Ann Sothern.

Sterling sent him a letter stating, "My mother did not collect, nor did she sell Hollywood memorabilia of other stars."

Sothern's daughter provided News 8 with detailed records of all the things she did sell when her mother died.

There's no mention of an Errol Flynn flask. But there's also no mention of an Elvis Presley travel razor, a Frank Sinatra cigarette case, or a Humphrey Bogart cigarette case.

Last year Heritage sold 22 items from "The Ann Sothern Collection." Sothern's daughter says none of them ever belonged to her mother."


WFAA-TV Rick Spector is a respected expert on Hollywood memorabilia and has consulted for some of the biggest auction houses in the world.

Spector says, based on his review of many of Heritage celebrity items, he says, "(Heritage) ignores provenance. They don't even ask for it. And that's their fatal flaw."

Heritage auctioned "The Ann Sothern Collection", and nearly $360,000 worth of items, on behalf of a company called LA Prop and Wardrobe headquartered in Meridian, Mississippi.

Heritage says LA Prop supplied a letter from Sothern's daughter along with the Errol Flynn flask.

"It was terrible. I couldn't believe it," said Spector.

In a world where provenance is everything, there is no mention of a flask. Or any item at all.

"There's no date, there's no provenance, there's nothing. There's no facts in it," Spector said.

In December, Heritage investigated Heard's complaint about the Errol Flynn flask and wrote him, "we cannot see any issue or area of concern."

Heard was shocked; "Absolutely, I'm getting the run around from this firm," he said.

We shared all of our documentation with Heritage's president Greg Rohan. "We are mortified and embarrassed about this," he said.

Heritage is now offering refunds to anyone who bought an Ann Sothern item.

"We took the letter at face value and we should've asked more questions about it. We're not gonna do that in the future," said Rohan.

But it's not just Ann Sothern. Spector says, while researching items on eBay, he stumbled on something else: someone buying vintage items for mostly less than $100. Spector says those same items then resurfaced at Heritage.

"He is buying generic items and selling them as movie star items," said Spector.


WFAA-TV Like Steve McQueen's luger from "The Great Escape", a tophat from the classic film "Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde", and Johnny Carson's microphone from the Tonight Show.

"These pieces are absolutely not real for what they say they are," Spector said.

News 8 has learned that all the items were purchased by Billie Null. He is co-owner of LA Prop in Mississippi and he's the man behind a Johnny Carson microphone which sold at Heritage for $2,600. A microphone with identical markings as a microphone that he purchased on eBay for $250.

"Are these pieces real?" we asked.

"Absolutely," said Null.

Null says he uses eBay items for parts to refurbish his real pieces. But that still doesn't explain why both microphones have the same serial number.

"That would indicate to me that it's the same microphone," we said.

"It would appear," answered Null.

"So is it just a coincidence? Or what's going on?" we asked.

"Yeah, absolutely," said Null.

And what about provenance? Where did all these items come from? Null says nearly every item comes from the collection of Dave Kupp.

Kupp's family says he was a collector, but he died two years ago. So, we can't ask him why he alternately signs his name Dave and David and misspelled his own street name on a letter of authenticity.

Heritage says it's a victim "a systematic misrepresentation" by LA Prop.

"Management of this company did not hear about this problem until last week," said Heritage's Greg Rohan.

But News 8 has e-mails from at least four customers or collectors who have alerted Heritage about the questionable eBay items.

"This is written in May. Shouldn't you have known about this a long time ago?" we asked.

"Absolutely. I wish I had known about it a long time ago. We would've stopped doing business with them immediately. And started our own investigation like we're doing now," said Rohan.

Heritage says it has added new safeguards to prevent future problems.

But Spector says Heritage should have known better than to accept Hollywood fantasy on good faith.

"Why are you backing up a truck from Meridian, MS and giving me hundreds of pieces of stuff that I've never seen the likes of before that is wonderful" said Spector. "I just landed in Oz, Dorothy and here it is. The Wizard is bringing me this stuff and it's magical," he added.

In addition to Hollywood memorabilia, Heritage also auctions eleven different product lines like coins, rare books, and stamps.

Heritage says its mistake represents a tiny fraction of its $600 million total business.

And Heritage says it will now carefully review the authenticity of all the questionable items it sold for LA Prop and there could be more refunds.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Ouch! Ebay has always scared me and so do generic items. Granted, almost anything can be faked, but the generic stuff just that much more.
 
Looks like you dodged that bullet.

I would not have dealt with them from their responses
 
Yeah, I started looking into them more and everything smelled like fish. Guess I dodged a bullet, even if it was shot from a rubber prop gun.

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I love this forum. Nothing but good peeps.
 
They had an expensive ($1,400) prop replica item that I had interest in a few months back and also inquired. My due diligence showed that they were using the exact photos from another (and respected) prop site, so I asked politely if they resold the same items -- if they did then I would buy from them, since Hollywood Prop Supply's price was better than the more respected site. The response I received was equally smart ass, so my advice would be to avoid them like they're toxic waste. I don't expect customer service on eBay -- it's an auction site, after all, and if I want good CS then I'll go to Nordstrom -- but being a general dick isn't the best way to get me to open my wallet on an expensive item.

Avoid.
 
FYI, I noticed the movies listed in which this rubber prop was apparently 'screen used'. For one, none of the films had exactly the same configuration of the Muzzelite Mini-14. The closest version would be the rubber stunt gun used in the future flashback sequences of T2. BUT.... those rifles had long barrels but NOT AS LONG as this rubber one. So what was this rubber stunt gun doubling for?

T2: Rubber stunt Muzzelites with longer than normal barrels, long birdcage flash hiders, large sci fi night vision scope/flashlight on the top rail.

Predator 2: All of Gary Busey's men carried the standard barrel length version with IR flashlights mounted

Total recall: The Rugers were the short barreled version of the Mini-14 that were full auto (the AC556C) so the barrel did not extend beyond the clamshell frame of the Muzzelite stock (for both Kohagen's men and Arnold)

On Deadly Ground: A standard Mini 14 in the Muzzelite stock, again the 16" barrel, not this weird long barreled version.

It 'could' have been used in a drop scene, but there are tons of closer looking Ruger mini 14s in muzzellite stocks. I have some rubber stunt guns myself, though they have no particular pedigree, they did come from one of the large weapons houses in L.A.

Chances are these guys don't know where the front sight got broken off.
 
From what I can tell, this "prop" was used in Seaquest DSV. The laser sight from the T2 was "glued" to the area with damage from the rifle. It looked like a secondary barrel in the show, and was shown very briefly (I've tried as hard as I can to find a good angle, but at this time do not have the patience nor the time to do so).

HPS - 0
Dr Lobster - 1
(although I really wanted it because it would look the part in the Terminator fan film I am doing, and it would look really nice on my wall)

Anyone got a Muzzelite Mini 14 rubber rifle they want to sell?
 
Well, if you think of it in terms of karma they will get what's coming to them. Last I checked fraud is still a crime and civil law violation. I'm betting Heritage will be suing for losses and that may well be the end of HPS. Time will tell.
 
I hope they get whats coming to them, after reading all this they sound dodgy as hell.. Ebay really is starting to become a dangerzone for fake and replica props claiming to be the real deal, I feel sorry for people who actually sell authentic items and then get questioned regarding authenticity !
 
Only worth dealing with if they have another companies coa to back their own with ,dealt with a few times and only bought on the basis they have a accompanying coa ,a few items they listed including a wetsuit screen used in the cave didn`t even appear in the relevant film and when contacted simply sent a email saying "it must of been crew used " even though listing stated otherwise.
Simply avoid unless you have to , or have additional provenence this based on my own experiences.
 
further news on this?
theres alot of terminator salvation props on ebay from hollywood prop supply right now!
 
They're well known scammers, having been repeatedly found out selling ordinary crap as screenused items. Anything you buy from them will be immediately suspect to other knowledgeable collectors, so good luck reselling the items later.
 
I don't agree with people posting private messages. I agree they weren't very professional. Take your money somewhere else, but you shouldn't post the messages. Just my opinion.

good luck
 
I hardly think it falls in the category of private when communicating with sellers who hold themselves out as LA PROP, HOLLYWOOD PROP SUPPLY and COSTUME COLLECTION while contending they have been in business in Hollywood for decades and you are asking a question about an item for sale or at auction.

rick
 
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