Englewood Camera sees a lot of cool old stuff. Having been in business for more than 60 years, and with our used equipment department, a lot of vintage treasures have ended up on our shelves or in our backroom.
One cool item that is hot, hot, hot right now is the Graflex 3 Cell Flashgun–an accessory from the Speed Graphic 4×5 cameras of the 1940s. This tube held flash bulbs for photojournalists or other photographers, and wasn’t very exciting for collectors or working photographers after that time period. That is, it wasn’t exciting until Star Wars.
In 1977, George Lucas came out with the original Star Wars, and a sweat new weapon called the Lightsaber. This simple yet elegant weapon was modeled after the Graflex 3 Cell flashtube, and was only slightly modified for the Star Wars films. Englewood Camera is lucky to have one of these original flashtubes in our collection–though we have quite a few other models of the flashtube that can also serve as Lightsaber props. Crazier yet, with the launch of Episode VII, The Force Awakens, these flashtubes are selling on eBay from $500 on up. The other versions can go from $50 to $250 too, and we have some replicas available in our eBay store. Want to read more on the history of the Graflex 3 Cell flashtube as the Lightsaber prop? Check out this link for more details.
And as you might know, one of our employees is a pretty big Star Wars fan. So, obviously, Erin had to pose with the highly-coveted Lightsaber. Don’t bother asking Bryce to sell it–Erin already tried!
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