In the past week, I have spoken with more than a dozen movie prop collectors about their concerns over the authenticity of slates and clapperboards circulating in the marketplace. Outstanding questions include the sources of these assets, the quantities/availability of boards from certain films, and the problem in distinguishing between unused post production replicas, surplus slates, crew gifts, and authentic set-used copies. [Read more…]
As a continuation of recent articles, the focus of this feature is the recent activity in the marketplace concerning the “Staff of Ra” headpiece props attributed to Raiders of the Lost Ark – all of which appear to have originated from the Harrison family (who retired from and sold the “Elstree Props” business in early 2008 and now sell unlicensed replica props as “Norank Engineering” and on eBay as “unisusu”). With one purchased for $450 and another offered for resale for $30,000 (along with a German hat), it certainly raises a number of questions and concerns, and warrants investigation, debate, and discussion. [Read more…]
Mario Saricca, originally selling on eBay as “puttieface” (see eBay’s puttieface & Entertainment Movie Props), who later changed his eBay account name to “votehillary” (see …”votehillary” Update), only to have been removed from eBay less than two weeks ago (see eBay’s “puttieface”, “votehillary” No Longer a Registered User), appears to be trading under an alternate eBay account, “spadorcia”, which today was changed to “hoist73”. Also of note, the EntertainmentMovieProps.com web store has been down since March (as reported in the story Reader Comment: “The Bride’s Hero Sword from Kill Bill”, Entertainment Movie Props). [Read more…]
The eBay seller “puttieface”, who changed his username to “votehillary” following my December 2007 article (see eBay’s puttieface & Entertainment Movie Props and …”votehillary” Update) has had his account suspended on eBay, showing a status of “No longer a registered user” and “Not a registered user”. [Read more…]
Collector Richard DeLong has contacted me asking for help getting in touch with Entertainment Movie Props in regards to an item he has made payments on, so I asked him to post his issue as a “Reader Comment” in the original article (see “eBay’s puttieface & Entertainment Movie Props“; see also “…”votehillary” Update“) about that seller and that I would repost it as a new article in the event someone can assist him. [Read more…]
As a follow-up to the prior article (see “eBay’s puttieface & Entertainment Movie Props“), eBay seller “puttieface” has changed his eBay username/account name to “votehillary“: [Read more…]
For years, I have received countless unsolicited e-mail messages, private messages on other websites, reader comments on this forum, etc., from an individual/individuals connected to the website EntertainmentMovieProps.com and/or eBay’s puttieface.
A variety of names, usernames, and e-mail addresses have been used, but many are easily connected to one another by IP address, writing style (all caps, all lowercase, non standard word fragments, unusual punctuation, etc.), unique word usage (“cheers”, “mate”, “int”, etc.), and content (consistent comments about specific props, experiences, etc.).
I’ve never transacted with either prop dealer, and have generally completed ignored him/them, but given my experiences, hopefully making note of it here in summary will be informative to other hobbyists. [Read more…]