The other day, I bought a stick on eBay. A really big stick.
Actually, it’s 44″ long and made out of latex and a metal tube. This stick was “supposedly” used in the Tim Burton Planet of the Apes movie. It came from a prop warehouse and arrived with a beautiful, signed color photocopy of a Certificate of Authenticity.
The good news is that I have finally crossed the collecting threshold and entered the ranks of movie prop owners, the bad news is that now I will have to re-watch the Tim Burton Planet of the Apes movie to see if I can actually spot this particular stick.
I wasn’t really expecting to buy this beautiful hunk of latex. I’ve been watching numerous auctions for props from this movie on eBay over the last year or so, and occasionally would throw out bids here and there, but never won anything… until now. I tossed in a $25 bid and forgot about it, until I got a “You won this item” message from eBay. Sweet! I won a stick! A screen used weapon from one of my favorite movie genres for $25 is something I will never regret buying.
This is the first official movie prop in my collection, and even though it is just a rubber stick, I will treasure it dearly. I will display it proudly and when I finally manage to get that full-size soldier ape, I think he’d be perfectly fine holding this club in one hand–even if it’s not from the right movie (I’m no purist). Until then, my tiny little ape army will have to suffice.
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