Fedoraman wrote:Indiana G wrote:too bad the kind gent who bought the stembridge revolver can't give us details of who made the screen used tod hat that he has (what the label says).....i believe that he owns the cockpit hat.
There was a cat who posted on here a few years ago (TCBCOLLECTOR) that claimed he had purchased a screen used TOD hat - but wouldn't give ANY details about the hat claiming that people would use it to reproduce his exclusive hat... HE got VERY upset by all the probing and left the forum after a few short days.
Thank goodness there are collectors like Forry Ackerman, who has always shared generously with other fans, even though he did sometimes get ripped off.
But how in the world could just sharing a few simple details allow people to reproduce any "exclusive" item? Maybe he ended up with a bogus hat and is ashamed to admit it?
Someone tried to sell me a "screen-used" Indy hat once for $5,000. It came with a wonderful affidavit from a doctor who testified that it was worn by Harrison Ford in TOD and that a member of the crew had given it to him as a gift at the wrap party. The problem was, the hat looked nothing like any of the hats worn by Ford and was from a manufacturer I had never heard of.
When I told the dealer this, he just shrugged it off and said he still thought the hat was authentic. I've frequently wondered who ended up with that hat, although I'm not implying it was the collector mentioned in the previous posts.
As a collector myself, I've bought my share of props & costume items over the years, but you have to be careful and do your own research before taking anyone's word for anything-- there are many, many fakes out there and sometimes even reputable dealers and auction houses are taken in.
Jack