The Armour Archive

Not sure why I havent posted this here. I guess I wasnt sure if there would be interest given our more practical use of armour. Still, what the heck. About four years ago a customer wanted me to build a full Sauron suit. He sent this gauntlet to me as a sense of his desired sizing. I enjoy the Rings trilogy, however I dont really have much need of this. So pm if interested. Id like this go to a good home. Just one gauntlet. Limited edition.









To move it quickly, I am pricing this far less than what we see on ebay

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_sacat=0 ... et&_sop=15

Asking 235.

Had I the money...

On ebay these are going for well over 300.....

drooooooooooooooooool!!!!!!!!!

You can, however, imagine my thoughts on making a full suit

I was used to the Nazgul but Sauron was a challenge on many levels.

To bad i have to few of the things in life that count... like dollars!

I would be open to two payments. Gauntlet sent upon second payment.

So, 117 secures it. Second 117 ships it.

Just figured Id throw it out there, if it helps.

I got a check coming in sometime this week. If this is still here, I will end up buying it. I have a friend who would love this, and would be a nice thing to get him, for all the things he has helped me out on.

Sounds good. Ill find a box for it.

So this is a really cool item, but I'm having a bit of trouble with this story:

PartsAndTechnical wrote:Not sure why I havent posted this here. I guess I wasnt sure if there would be interest given our more practical use of armour. Still, what the heck. About four years ago a customer wanted me to build a full Sauron suit. He sent this gauntlet to me as a sense of his desired sizing. I enjoy the Rings trilogy, however I dont really have much need of this. So pm if interested. Id like this go to a good home. Just one gauntlet. Limited edition.

Can you explain why this item is your property to sell and not your former customer's?

Because he gave it it me.

Makes sense. If it was given as a gift it does. Or use this then keep it ect.

Slightly off topic...to whit I guess... Before the recession I had a modest business in high end costumes. Did a lot of outsourced commission for film and video game studios. It was a lot of fun, except when youd be commissioned to sculpt some character for a one-off client private commission and then learn it was being resold overseas. Its one of the reasons I moved away from that line of work. Its a bizarre world because I would be hired by studios or someone who worked therein, to build a reproduction of something that was technically unlicensed (meaning it could be made and owned, but could not be sold....sort of a catch22), and yet that very unlicensed piece would be used in promotions for a third party business aligned with the LOTR studios franchise. My Nazgul armour was used for that very type thing. A video store, promoting a Lord of the Rings film, hired a promotional firm to come in costume to some event. I got the call for several Nazgul suits--not directly mind you, but indirectly from the 2nd hand party. The Sauron commission had similar details. Its a weird world.... I have a bunch of Star Wars, Indiana Jones and various sci fi props from that time in my life. the fun part is that one often gets to see rare film costumes, and on occasion, take a few odds and ends home! Ironically, many film costumes from movies have been saved by the very fans and hobby businesses that researched the dickens out of them and located the originals ....sometimes just in the nick of time before they were destroyed, thrown out or lost forever. A number of the stormtrooper suits and vaders components were saved this way, I think an X wing helmet too....which oddly enough were leased from the hobby collectors, to reproduce official replicas 30 + odd years later.

Im babbling. But yeah, the movie costume world is fascinating. And was a lot of fun.

Big props.. but shuttle Galileo (star trek) and the hospital transport (firefly) were both found in scrap yards and rescued.

I read that a bunch of the Star Wars, Tatooine props were still there....some guys took a pilgrimage to Africa and found them.

There some guy here in Maryland who has a bunch of the Death Star Endor station panels...the station that Han and crew storm with "charges"

Yep. The stuff built in.. uhh.. I don't remember, is still just sitting there.

there's a webpage devoted to "recent" photographs of the iconic spaghetti western locations too.. that's pretty neat to read through.

Tunisia?

Yes tunisia, i have personally see an old wreck of the lars family home from the original episode IV. I was on a training excersise when we ran into it. We got some good pics but that was back i the days of film in cameras.

Did this sell? If not, I will take it.

I think Sir Finn has dibs....

If your interested, I do have some components for a pair of Nazgul....I was going to finish a pair or two and upload to ebay. Message me if interested. One of those 'to-do' things I am hoping to get done this summer.

I just have to ask. How much would a custom sized set of Sauron armor cost?

Einarr Deadpool wrote:I just have to ask. How much would a custom sized set of Sauron armor cost?

Oh my. The problem is that we dont have good hands on data on this suit. WETA workshops keep things very tight, and even I cant disclose image I have of the nazgul I made. John Howe is a contact-friend of mine and we have chatted about this very issue. Even he, who designed the look of the armour, cant show his own direct final draft sketches or photos of the original gauntlets. Having said that I can tell you that movie stuff is often crap compared to what people expect in real life....the LOTR costumes are better than many, but they dont live up to what we expect to see....its the old five foot rule. And Saurons suit was not a normal harness....odd proportions and shape. Insane etching everywhere...odd plates everywhere. Translation as to price: my initial quote was pushing 15k. Mostly because so much time was tied up in R&D, and even then I never felt comfortable. The etching time was length also. One of the problems is that he was not an armour guy...he did not realize how much time this stuff takes. I guess he assumed I would simply scratch the etching with a steel chisel or something. Realizing that, my client gave up with Sauron.---he went with a nazgul. lol Frankly I didnt mind. I dont think 15k was enough for the amount of work involved for a serious movie replica suit like that, in steel, etched accuracy etc etc etc.

I thank you for your prompt and thoughtful reply. Actually my first guess was 25K. So thats in that price range. Considering the hours involved and perhaps nore importantly the SKILL required thats not out of bounds for that work. It out of my range of being able to justify such a suit. But, it would be fantastic. I am considering a large investment (5-6K is alot for me) in armor. I love the look of dark armor (not shiny, stainless etc), and it will have to be functional in SCA play.

Who would buy armor that could be cut open with a broken sword like a can of tuna? Nice work=)