| SD Studios was run by Steve Dymzak,
I do not know what happened but they went out of business making 007
replica props. Originally thought of as quite expensive items they soon
went up in value and most now command around 6 times their original
purchase price. Mostly very well made these are high on collectors wants
lists. Most sought after is the Golden Gun, this is fashioned after the weapon used by Scaramanga (Christopher Lee) it is a gold plated gun that when broken down becomes a cufflink, pen, lighter and cigarette case. These items are larger than life as the gun would ultimately look a bit small. The original item considered for the film was manufactured by Colibri and had magnetic fit parts, this proved too fragile and another was quickly knocked up in house. It is this gun that was used in the movie and has been copied by SD Studios.
There are many variations of this gun as improvements were made along its production. Originally it was a limited edition of 7500 but it has been estimated that the production was probably less than 1000. In these pictures the earlier gun is on the left and the later on the right. The main differences are two completely different guns, the earlier one being around 5% smaller. The lighter on this gun has no Colibri label and no attempt has been made to give the appearance of a lid. The Cigarette case has no ruby on the early version and the locking mechanism includes a spring loaded clip to hold the lighter in place. The cufflink is a crude affair on the early gun with a bare thread and this screws to the case only and does not secure the lighter as in later models. The pen on the early model has a lid with superior finish but has the wrong pen clip, the bullet is also longer and the engraving is not painted in |
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