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Thursday, February 12, 2015

Props: Phantasm III Spheres For Sale!

Legitimate props from the Phantasm films are hard to come by, though they do crop up on eBay from time to time. If you're going to pay a premium price for something screen-used, you should feel confident that the item you're buying is real. After all, there have certainly been a handful of fake props auctioned off in recent years. I recall a particularly unconvincing pair of dwarves denounced by series special effects creators and several sphere replicas passed off as the real deal.

 Having said that, a popular collectibles website is now claiming to have a whopping fifteen spheres from the making of Phantasm III headed for the auction block. The only question is - are they real? Read on to see pics, find links to the auctions and learn my doubts.


User PropDomain on the iCollector website has listed these fifteen spheres across three auctions, several of which appear to be ultra-rare black Jody spheres. If these are genuine props, then this represents a most incredible opportunity for phans to get their hands on actual pieces of the Tall Man's sentinel army.

 As for my doubts... these listings don't mention any certificate of authenticity being included or explain how the seller came into possession of these props. Unless the seller was sphere-man Kerry Prior himself, I'd be awfully suspicious. Given Don Coscarelli's extreme penchant for saving props and wardrobe, I'm surprised at the sheer volume of spheres up for auction. PropDomain has already sold off dozens of various other Phantasm III spheres, one of which sold for $4,000. 

 I will admit that some of their previously sold spheres look incredibly authentic. It's also worth mentioning that PropDomain has a mighty impressive offering of genuine horror props for sale and in the archives. The spheres may all indeed be real, but without revealing how they were acquired or offering a certificate of authenticity, I'd strongly advise all buyers beware. The new balls don't actually go up for auction until March 7th.






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4 comments:

  1. jasonFebruary 12, 2015 at 8:21 AM

    Have you tried to get any of the special effects guys or even Don to authenticate this large find?

    ReplyDelete
  2. jasonFebruary 12, 2015 at 8:22 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. KerryMay 27, 2015 at 10:16 AM

    I was contacted recently by a fellow looking for me to verify that the Phantasm Sphere he had purchased on Ebay was in fact genuine. It even came with a "certificate of authenticity." I had to tell him that it was fake.

    While it is possible that the occasional prop found it's way off the set--(at least one was given as a gift, that to Bob Ivy for an amazing stunt he did on P-III; some (2 motion control spheres) were archived in Dreamquest Images' storage vaults; and there's no accounting for any spheres in the hands of those sphere-guys who came before me...) as a general rule, if it shows up on Ebay, it's not genuine. I've never sold a prop from the Phantasm (I have two spheres from P-III and I can see them from here) although I did make some props from the original molds for a diehard "Phan" many years ago, I'm certain he will never part with them. But, to be sure, if it comes with a COA with my signature, it is unquestioningly a fake.

    Hope that helps.

    Kerry Prior

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownOctober 12, 2017 at 1:31 PM

    Hi Kerry I spoke to you sometime ago and you mentioned that you had 2 screen used phantasm spheres from one of the films, I think it was Phantasm 3. Would you be interested in parting with one of them? Im getting props assembled for a museum im planning on opening. Thansk Scott

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